The Green-Eyed Monster
by ScribeAnimal
Summary: While Harm is working for Grace Aviation, he runs across a friend who he hasn't seen for a LONG time. When that friend and Mac lock horns, nuclear fireworks ensue.
1. Well, Look Who The Cat Dragged In!

"The Green-Eyed Monster"

Author: Haruo Chikamori

E-mail: hhchikamori

Rating: M

Classification: K

Spoilers: N/A

Summary: After Paraguay; after the CIA, Harm finds a friend he thought he would never see again. In the middle of Back in the Saddle and before Close Quarters (Harm really didn't work that long with Grace Aviation – so this is going to be a tight-timetable AU fic).

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended. Animal is the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori.

"Who Says You Can't Go Home Again"

GRACE AVIATION

BLACKSBURG AIRPORT

BLACKSBURG, VA

"Hey, Harm, can you pick up some parts for the crop-duster?" A cheery voice assailed Harm's ears. The crisp morning air made his nose twitch as he smelled a faint aroma of manure from the fields nearby.

"Sure thing, Mattie." He said quietly looking at the clipboard that held all the jobs that they were supposed to do for the farmers around the area in Blacksburg. "I thought we had to do the Simpson's field today though?"

"Nope that's tomorrow." Mattie assured him confidently. "But I do need those parts today. The mechanic needs 'em. So…Harm…git goin'!" she said winking at him, ushering him to the truck that he was supposed to drive to the regional airport over in Roanoke, VA to pick up some parts from Roanoke Aircraft Maintenance and Parts.

"Gettin' goin'." He retorted. "I'll see you in a couple of hours. I gotta get myself something to eat too on the way back." He got into the truck and headed out of the airport to Research Center Drive then onto the ramp that lead to Highway 460.

ROANOKE AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE AND PARTS

ROANOKE REGIONAL AIRPORT

39 MIN LATER

Pulling into the parts place, he took the invoice slip over to the counter. "Morning, John. I'm here to pick up some parts for Grace Aviation?"

"Good to see ya." John was the lanky proprieter of Roanoke Aircraft Maintenance and Parts. "So, ya got some money for me?" He asked as he laid the needed parts on the counter. "Or is it on tab like usual?"

"Nope. Some of her accounts receivables came in, so we're paying cash for them." Harm replied, a little annoyed at the sarcasm. Mattie was running into some difficulty with the business, but she always paid her bills.

After paying the bills, he decided to run into the airport terminal to see if he could get a bite to eat at a convenient airport restaurant. Making his selection, he grabbed a quick sandwich (lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and bean sprouts). He was just in the process of paying for the sandwich when a blond woman in a Lieutenant Commander's whites with line officers stars on her Lieutenant Commander shoulder boards grinned at him "Hey, that's an interesting sandwich." Harm looked at her for a long moment trying to match up her face with someone from his past. She looked familiar but he still had a tough time placing her in his memory. The Lieutenant had blue eyes, a charming smile and long blonde hair that she had in a bun behind her officer's combo cap. She got to him first. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" She asked, a rather familiar smirk on her face. "So…you're dressed like a civilian, wearing oil-stained clothes during the middle of the day and you look like this guy who I used to know in the Navy. A really handsome guy, that is. You look like you could be his clone." The blonde female lieutenant commander stated wryly. She said preparing to give him an interrogation. The blonde LCDR paid for her food and said. "Let's sit down and I can grill you some more." She grabbed a bite of her fries, chewed and swallowed, then continued her third-degree. "So…were you ever in the Navy?"

"I resigned." Harm said shortly. "I guess I pissed off my CO one too many times."

"So where did you work." She smiled slowly.

"Falls Church, Virginia." Harm replied. "You look like someone I know too. She was a spitfire and had quite a bit of spunk for a lieutenant junior grade. I remember she and I chased down this computer geek that was trying to hijack a sub and maneuver a torpedo towards a cruise ship. Oh…and there was this time that she and I ended up in Cuba…where she told me directly to my face when I said that my friend was the second best pilot…"

Her eyes twinkled as she laughed… "And I said. 'Next to the CAG…sir?'." She got up out of her chair as Harm got up, his eyes warm. "How are you doing, Harm?" Meg said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a warm hug. "Fancy meeting you in a place like this."

"How'd you end up shuttling through Roanoke. This wasn't one of the main airports that I'd think that the Navy would put you through if you're going to a duty station." Harm looked puzzled.

"Well, Harm. The truth of the matter is…" Meg said, "I've done my line tour as a Weapons Development Officer and I decided to go back to JAG. Actually, Harm, I was going to go back because of you, but since you're no longer there…I guess I'm just going to have to be solo." She finished as she said with a hint of sadness that they couldn't partner up…and gave him a mock-disappointed high-nosed sniff for good measure.

"So when is your flight…to get you closer to where you need to be?" Harm asked.

"That's the problem. I think I'm stuck here in Roanoke. There doesn't seem to be a flight that leaves before next week and I have to report on Monday. It's Friday now."

"Well, I'm heading back to my apartment and I can drop you off at the gate at JAG on Monday if you want to crash at my apartment until you find a place." Harm offered.

"Well, you must have caught me on my off-day, Harm, because I normally refuse offers of hanging out with an unmarried guy, but I'll bite on this one." Meg replied.

"Your luggage here?" Harm asked Meg; ignoring her jibe.

"Yep, just me and one carry-on and a suitcase." Meg smiled at him and said. "You know, it seems like old times."

"Yeah, it does, Meg." Harm replied. "You know I missed you? You disappeared without saying anything and then I got this jarhead of a partner that proceeded to drive me insane."

Grabbing her luggage, she tossed them in the back. "Awwww, I guess I'm just going to have to make you all better, aren't I? I'll even help you find all your marbles."

"Gee, thanks." Harm replied dryly. "I think Mac's tossed a few of them where I won't be able to find 'em again."

"Mac?" Meg asked curiously, her eyes twinkling with merriment. "Mac?"

"She's a Marine…that's dedicated her life to driving me absolutely batshit insane." Harm swore softly.

"Oh…" was Meg's short acknowledgement.

The drive back to Grace Aviation was filled with laughter. Mattie greeted Meg with a hearty, "How are you?" and then told Harm that he could take the day off since he wasn't needed for flying any crop-dusting assignments.

As Harm transferred Meg's suitcase and carry-on bags (his bike was acting up that day) to his Lexus, Meg grinned at him. "Dusting crops, driving a Mom-mobile? What happened to you?" Meg looked at him. "Who are you and what did you do to the Harm I remember?"

"I grew up." Harm said laconically. "Also my Corvette got stolen."

"Awww." Meg said sympathetically. "That was a nice car." She offered a condolence.

"And to top it all off, Mac went and got herself a new Corvette the same day that I got my Lexus…" he spat out the offending word. "Mom-mobile!"

Meg laughed; her voice ringing merrily in the confines of the car. Harm winced. "Thanks for the sympathy." His dry sarcastic tone made Meg laugh harder.

Their drive back to Harm's loft apartment just north of Union Station was filled with reminiscing about times past.

"…and you went back into flying…and your girlfriend, what was her name, Jordan Parker, turned around and dumped you?" Meg sighed. "Poor Harm. Jilted every single time…" she said quietly as they pulled into the garage.

Harm looked piteously at her. "Yep…never the bridegroom…always the best man…" he opined with a mock bow in her direction. And I'm pushing 42…confound it. Thought I'd be married by now and have a couple of kids. But ya play the cards dealt you." He grinned. "So, Meg, what about you?"

"Not much time for relationships when you're working in NAVSYSCOM." She said wryly but then softened her voice to a very sensuous purr and gave out what appeared to be an admission. "There was one…torrid…night in Acupulco…during a…" Harm looked like he had swallowed a bug. Meg burst out laughing "Just kidding. Had to throw that in there to see what you looked like…and believe me, it was worth it."

Yes, it was like old times. Harm thought to himself. Meg and Harm had settled back into an easy rhythm of teasing each other. It was so different from the relationship he thought he had with a certain Sarah Mackenzie. Mac on the other hand wasn't so quick to laugh, nor was she the type to joke around with him. Her sense of humor was more cutting than joyful. It was a quiet homecoming for Harm, who carried Meg's bags in for her, saying quickly. "I'll take the couch, you take the bed. Meg, go make yourself comfortable."

"Thanks, Harm." She said easily, comfortable being with her old friend again. When she had gotten refreshed, she grabbed one of his t-shirts; the only thing that she had taken with her were some dresses and her uniforms. Unfortunately she was going to have to pick up some more clothes as a result of raiding and discarding most of her leisure clothes so that she could move quickly back to her old post. Quickly looking through his dresser drawer, she found a set of trackpants that she could easily slip on and tied the tie up so that she was able to wear them without it slipping off. She didn't fail to notice Harm's uniforms still hanging up in the closet. She noticed the three full stripes as well as the oak leaf covered brim of his officer's cap; the one row of oak leaves that denoted either a commander or a captain; the mill-rinde staff officer's insignia on his sleeves. She smiled. He was still above her in rank. But she was trying her darndest to catch up.

Heading out to the living room, she sat down on the couch and relaxed. Harm noticed that she had picked out his VF-241 Howlers t-shirt to wear and she wore it well. Despite the difference between the two of them in age; he felt a kinship towards her that to him went beyond a brotherly affection.

The evening was getting on when Harm noticed how late it was. "You know what. I haven't eaten and I doubt neither have you since that sandwich at Roanoke Airport. It's been a four hour and a half hour drive. We should order something. Chinese sound good?"

"Absolutely." Meg replied. "Now that you bring it up, I'm famished. Now I hope that you're buying." She teased.

"Of course." Harm gave her a cheeky 'I'm insulted' look. "When any friend shows up after such a long time as you've been gone, I'd better be treating them to dinner."

"Glad to hear it." Meg riposted.

It took forty-five minutes for the food to appear after Harm ordered it. Absolutely hungry with their stomachs making audible complaints, they dug in.

Meg was adamant that she start looking for a place of her own so that she would be situated when she was scheduled to report in. So that was what took up the rest of the weekend. They went from apartment to apartment and looked for the one that would put her closest to Falls Church, yet give her enough space to call it an actual apartment which was affordable to a Lieutenant Commander's salary.

By Sunday afternoon, Meg had found what she was looking for, a comfy two bedroom apartment in Reston about as far away from Falls Church as Harm was coming in from Union Station.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

0930 HRS

"Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, Lieutenant Roberts. I have received word that Commander Carolyn Imes is being investigated by the Virginia State Bar for conducting prosecution and defence of court cases without being a member of the Bar of the State of Virginia. Do you understand exactly how big of a black eye, this gives JAG?" Rear Admiral Chegwidden glared, raising an eyebrow. "8 years, she has worked under the auspices of this office and she has lied about her being a licensed lawyer for the State of Virginia." He paused a moment in his rant "Do you know what's going to happen with the media if they catch word of it. As it is we are going to have to go through each and every case that she has worked on or had anything to do with and see if there has been any mistakes, any errors in judgement. Oh, hell, this whole damned thing is going to be a major clusterfuck!" he swore.

"Over 8 years…sir." Bud ventured to say. "That could be hundreds of court cases, thousands even."

"Make that tens of thousands." The admiral's sarcasm was dripping with venom. "We're going to have to bring someone back on board. Someone who is capable helping research and overview the cases so that there are no irregularities." Giving a hard look at Bud and Mac, he said. "And you two are busy, but I am going to pile Article 83 & 131 punitive charges for court-martial pending an Article 32 hearing." Admiral Chegwidden sounded absolutely disgusted. "Also Lieutenant Roberts. We have a new officer coming on board today. Would you be so kind as to show her around?"

"Yes, sir."


	2. And In This Corner

"And In This Corner"

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

0945 HRS

"Lieutenant Bud Roberts!" LCDR Meg Austin smiled as she strolled through the office. "Well, how are ya?" Bud looked up to see a pretty and familiar blonde Lieutenant Commander come striding over. "So, Rear Admiral Chegwidden mentioned that you were going to give me the grand tour."

"Uh…um…oh, yes, ma'am." Bud stammered helplessly. "Well…I guess he did, ma'am."

"So how are things here. Bud." Meg asked. "The atmosphere doesn't feel the same as it did when I left here ages ago. It's like there's tension everywhere." Meg felt a rather hostile stare from a blonde Lieutenant and turned around. "Lieutenant…is there something wrong?"

"Ma'am?" the Lieutenant turned around sounding prim and proper. "I don't believe so." She said.

"Well…I just noticed that you seem to be of the opinion that I do not need to be here." Meg stated, then stepped directly over to the woman while Bud tried to make himself scarce. "It just so happens that I have been assigned here; the whys and wherefores not being your business."

"Well, ma'am, with all due respect, when you are talking to my husband…" the Lieutenant started to say before Meg cut her off.

"Lieutenant, I was just remarking on the atmosphere of this office. It was a professional discussion between two officers." Meg said firmly and decisively tiring of the sniping. "First of all, if you are his wife, then you will understand the difference between discussion and flirting. Secondly, I am a Lieutenant Commander with a half-stripe more than you. Now lock it up! Lieutenant Sims!" she snapped her eyes going to the Lieutenant's nametag. "Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Meg's pretty blue eyes turned to ice as she bit out clearly enunciated words that cracked like gunshots. "Lieutenant Sims, my personal love interests do not lie in the direction of your husband. They happen to lie…" she whispered harshly just audible enough that only the lieutenant being chewed out could hear "in a certain 6'4" ex-fighter pilot. So you can rest assured that your 'Bud' is perfectly safe while around me."

"Yes, ma'am." Harriet maintained the position of attention, her thoughts churning figure eights in her brains while Meg circled her like a shark sensing blood in the water.

"Now, as the Public Affairs Officer for the Judge Advocate General's office, do you not have tasks to do?! Files to file, press releases to type up?"

"Yes, ma'am." Harriet said wincing at the Lieutenant Commander's harsh glare.

"Then I would suggest that you get to it, Lieutenant Sims! In the interim, Admiral Chegwidden has indicated that he would like Lieutenant Roberts to give me the grand tour of the JAG office. That is the only reason why I was discussing matters with your husband."

"Aye, ma'am. My apologies, ma'am."

"No offense taken, Lieutenant." Meg said. "Dismissed!" Harriet made herself scarce.

"What is going on!? There is so much noise out here that I can't even concentrate on my caseload! Is there a problem, Lieutenant Commander?" Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, all 5'10" of her height wearing barely regulation black pumps to give her height, stepped into the bullpen. The Lieutenant Commander towered over her by about three inches. Mac looked at her. "Lieutenant Commander? I'm Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, United States Marine Corps. People call me 'Mac' for short." Mac didn't notice Meg's eyes narrow remembering the phrase that Harm had mentioned to her about Mac. "_She's a Marine…that's dedicated her life to driving me absolutely batshit insane…_"

"Hello, Colonel." Meg extended her right hand. "How do you do." If this was a match of sizing each other up to assess each other's strengths, the other party didn't recognize it. But Meg was playing to win.

"I was kind of wondering why you were chewing out Lieutenant Sims." Mac asked.

"Aside from the insinuation that I was hitting on her husband, which kind of annoyed me, ma'am." Meg stated that rank deferral diminutive so that it wouldn't appear that she was being disrespectful.

"OK…" Mac said. "Well…nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll probably talk again." She said dismissively. After all Meg was only a Lieutenant Commander; the rough squid equivalent to a Marine major.

Meg smiled. "Ma'am, it appears that we both know a mutual friend." Mac looked up questioningly at Meg's statement of fact.

"Oh, we do?" Mac was curious.

"Yes, a certain Harmon Rabb Jr. As you see, I was his former partner in this JAG office." she stated. "I left because there was a billet open for an officer with my set of skills and it was a great career opportunity and a stepladder to higher rank."

"Is that so." Mac was wary. "And you are aware that Harm resigned his commission and left."

"I became aware of that, quite recently as a matter of fact." Meg stated, her smile becoming wider. "Admiral Chegwidden asked for me to come onboard to lighten the load so to speak." 

"oh." Mac's internal warning lights came on. There was danger in this area, landmines, like the actual ones that Harm and Mac had to deal with in Afghanistan a few years back. But this particular landmine was a lot more subtle than and just as dangerous as the real ones. This Lieutenant Commander was a go-getter, the Admiral asked for her to come to JAG, and on top of that; the most dangerous part of it was that she knew Harm. This was not a good sign, everything was warning her to go to battle-ready.

"Ma'am, now I need to get the grand tour of the office with Lieutenant Roberts. By your leave, ma'am." Meg smiled with a subtly wolfish smile, touching the upturned corners of her lips, but not going as far as her eyes.

"Alright Lieutenant Commander, I'll see you around the office."

GRACE AVIATION

BLACKSBURG, VA

"Hey, Hammer!" An asian man, his posture showing military bearing, dressed in civilian clothes, wandered over to the hangar. "I figured I'd find you here at some airfield puttering around the planes."

"Animal, what you doing here?" Harm looked up in surprise as he saw his old flight school instructor wandering over.

"Heard from Sturgis that you dumped your commission and headed for Paraguay, came back and dropped off the face of the earth. Puttered around with the Company for awhile or at least that's what the scuttlebutt in the squadron was." He kicked a clod of dirt that bounced about 15 feet away, then looked up at Harm "So what the hell's going on? Wanna go for a drink and a burger, maybe and you can tell me about it? Yeah, I know. Veggie burger. You vegetarians make me wonder how you can survive on rabbit food."

"I presume you're not here to make assessments on my diet, are you?" Harm raised his eyebrow as he weighed a measuring look at his old friend.

"Well…naw. I can insult you about your eating habits any time. You don't have to tell me the stuff you're not cleared to say anything about." Animal said. "Now you gettin' into the car or what? I'm damned hungry!"

"Clearing it with my fourteen year old boss." Harm retorted as he turned back towards the hangar "I'll be right back."

Ten minutes later, Harm came back, "Yeah, sure…let's go grab a bite."

"Lenient boss." Animal snickered.

"Hey, I don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Harm retorted.

"Gillie's, OK?" Animal said. "Cheap but good food."

"yeah, fine, if you're buying." Harm replied as he looked out the window of the car. Animal drove a Chevy Impala, cheap for a rear admiral's car. But Animal was frugal. His wife was the same way. The battle group commander was a top-notch naval aviator and loved flying.

"Don't tempt me to go dutch, Rabb…" Animal said with an evil grin.

When they got to Gillies, parked and went in and grabbed a table, Animal looked over at his friend and said. "What the hell's going on, Harm? You drop your commission, you take off to Paraguay, then you come back, go into the Company, get fired from the Company and then take up crop-dusting. What's going on?"

"Boss that I like, I get to set my own hours…" Harm replied. "Works out perfectly. Pays three hundred a day."

"You really know what you want to do with your life, Harm?" Animal asked him pointedly. "You had a great law career, making more money as a JAG lawyer and able to put some money away for savings and retirement once you hit your thirty years."

"Right now, I don't know. Mac's come over once hassling me about Ime's cases with regards to her Article 32 hearing and court-martial. I'm at the point where I don't care, Animal. I don't really want to go back. I'm sure AJ's gonna come out at some point and beg me to come back, but I'm not sure if I want to."

"Yeah?" Animal said, disbelief coloring the tone of his voice. "Responsibility, Harm. You gotta start taking some responsibility for your actions, Harm. When your face was plastered all over that TV you knew your career with the Company was done. You know how they operated, you knew that when you signed on."

"So…Animal, how do you reconcile your career flying aircraft off carriers, the adrenaline rush and all that that comes with being the battlegroup commander? How do you say that you're being responsible when you hang your life out on the edge like that?" Harm said.

"The line is there, Harm, you just have to see it. I don't take un-necessary risks. I don't cross that line. People can call you a coward all they want, but I know that I can outfly the majority of them. But I also know my own limits. I'm not a daredevil looking for the next adrenaline rush." Animal replied, looking at Harm. "Lia…and our life together is the future that I work towards; who means everything to me. You need to find that line and learn to stay on the right side of it." Animal grinned, reached out a hand and patted Harm on the shoulder, then laughed shortly and retorted. "And you need to learn to quit pissing your superiors off."

"I'll take that under advisement." Harm said raising the glass of water to his lips. Putting it down, he grinned.

They drove back to the airport in relative silence.

After the day was over, Harm got back on his motorbike and headed back out on the road back to his home north of Union Station. He had a lot to think about. First the meeting with Catherine Gale's mother, then the dinner with Catherine Gale herself all telling him that he needed to take responsibility; now his old flight school instructor telling him that he was a hotshot that needed to find the right side of the line to stay on. All of that weighed on his mind as he made his way inside the apartment, as he sat down. Then on top of that, Meg was now back in his life. Things were getting very complicated. Mac, Catherine, Meg. What could he do? Was his place honestly back at JAG? And if that was the case, then where would his relationships be. He couldn't very well have a relationship with any of his co-workers. Shaking his head; he muttered to himself. "I'm just giving myself a headache."


	3. On A Level Playing Field

"On A Level Playing Field"

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

Meg grinned as she walked into the office. As she stepped into the bullpen, YN2 Coates stepped up to her. "Ma'am. Admiral Chegwidden requested your presence in his office."

"Thank you, Coates." She said, congratulating herself that she remembered the young yeoman's name and there were a lot of new names to remember. Making sure that her service blues uniform was neat, she raised her hand to knock on the door, just as AJ opened the door.

"Sir!?" Lieutenant Commander Austin startled, stepped back two steps.

"I see you were coming to see me as I requested…Walk with me. I need to get myself a cup of coffee."

"Yes, sir." Meg replied, noting the sharp look directed at her from a certain Marine Lieutenant Colonel. Evidently she didn't like the fact that Meg was getting some attention from the admiral. Oh well, she could suffer as far as Meg was concerned. She smiled as they walked.

"Something amusing, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Oh, just spent last afternoon with an old friend, sir. Took me out to a movie. He also helped me find my new place out in Reston on the weekend before I reported, sir."

"Oh? Seeing someone?" AJ asked, sort of knowing the answer before he even asked it. "A certain ex-Navy fighter pilot, I presume."

Her next answer confirmed it. "I can neither confirm nor deny that, sir." AJ rolled his eyes. If a certain Marine Lieutenant Colonel heard about this, nuclear fireworks would be the result. It might be interesting to see but the fallout would be spectacular and potentially career-ending.

After getting his coffee and retreating back into the office along with Meg, he punched a button on his intercom. "Coates, have you got the items that I requested?"

"Yes, sir." Coates replied. "Everything is as requested. Admiral."

"Then would you please be present…Coates."

"Yes, sir." Coates said. About five seconds later, a knock came on the door.

"ENTER!" Admiral Chegwidden barked. The door opened and Coates slipped in bearing what appeared at first glance to be a garment bag. Receiving the garment bag, AJ said to Lieutenant Commander Meg Austin. "The promotion board convened about a week ago." Meg wasn't certain of where this bit of information was going. "How long have you been a Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant Commander Austin?"

"Sir, 4 years, sir."

"Well, Lieutenant Commander Austin, it seems that the promotion board seeing as how you were exemplary in the performance of your duties while at Weapons Research and Development seemed fit to deep-select you." Meg looked stunned, like a deer in the headlights. Opening up the garment bag to reveal a US Navy female Commander's jacket, he said. "Remove your Lieutenant Commander's jacket, please."

Meg did as requested. "Congratulations, Meg." AJ said as he slipped the Commander's jacket on her. "I wish I could have made this a public promotion in the bullpen."

"Understood, sir. It wouldn't be the same without the former Commander Rabb, there, sir." Meg replied as AJ winced.

"You will have to get yourself a Commander's Combo Cap from the PX."

Reciting the oath of military office and having it repeated back to him; it was formalized. Meg had entered AJ's office as a Lieutenant Commander and left it as a Commander.

JAG BULLPEN

FALLS CHURCH, VA

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

Now Commander Meg Austin stepped out into the bullpen and surveyed the faces looking back at her. "Congratulations, Commander." Bud chirped.

"Thank you, Bud." Meg replied as she headed for her office stopping to a dead halt as she realized whose office she had been given. Harm had emptied the office, but the nameplate on the door above had yet to be changed. It still read "Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. "

"I'll get Building Services to get it changed." Mac's voice came from beside her. Meg hadn't noticed that the Marine Lieutenant Colonel was standing beside her.

"I guess…" Meg said faintly, wishing that the sign could remain. At least then she'd have Harm with her at that office at least in name only. Turning to Mac she said "That sign has been there for a long time, hasn't it."

"Yes. And no one has taken it down." Mac replied shortly. "Things change." Her tone was dismissive. Meg noticed her look down at the three full gold stripes of Meg's new uniform jacket. "Congratulations on your promotion, Commander. It appears that we are now of equal rank." Her tone was still cold.

Meg raised an eyebrow. "I see. Colonel. I do have to get some things unpacked in here so I may be awhile. I figure there are cases that need dispensing with so I figure that the meeting will dictate what sort of capacity I will be working at in the office, so if you will excuse me." She cut the conversation short, practically dismissively towards the Marine lieutenant colonel and went into Harm's (now her's) office and shut the door. Looking up at the door, she waved back at the Marine lieutenant colonel who she swore almost had steam coming out her ears. So Mac had tried to drive Harm batshit insane, did she? Well, that was one strike against her and now that Meg was on equal ground, she was going to utilize that to her best advantage.

JAG BULLPEN

FALLS CHURCH, VA

TUESDAY NOON

A familiar face graced the JAG office eliciting calls of "Hello, Commander Rabb!" to which a civilian clothed Harm cheerfully said. "I'm not in the Navy anymore. Call me Harm." Jacket over his arm, a present in one hand and a legal briefcase in the other, he wandered through the bullpen, looking kind of lost.

Meg peered out the door of her office to which Harm raised an eyebrow as it was his former office. Then his eyes travelled down to the three full stripes on her uniform jacket and his other eyebrow went up to join the first one. "Meg, you got promoted?"

"Yes, Harm." Meg said. "Admiral Chegwidden told me to come into his office this morning, then dropped this welcome surprise. He said I was deep-selected."

"Congratulations, Meg, you deserve it." Harm grinned widely; spread his arms open wide and hugged her.

"Decorum?" Meg questioned.

"What the hell…I'm not in the Navy anymore. I can hug you if I want to. Commander." Harm replied as he wrapped his arms around his former partner.

"So…Harm…how long are you going to be with Colonel Mackenzie and Lieutenant Roberts?" Meg asked.

"I don't know, but if you'll wait, I'd like to take you out for lunch?" Harm offered.

"I'd like that." Her eyes twinkled. "Is that a date?"

"If you want it to be." Harm said.

"If you're asking, I do…" Meg said suggestively, as Commander Sturgis Turner walked up.

"Hi, hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Oh, hello, Commander Turner." Meg said as she turned to acknowledge Commander Turner.

"Hi, Sturgis." Harm said.

"Hi, Harm." The two friends talked for a few moments and then Harm said his goodbyes to Turner. "Meg, I'll look you up after I finish up with Mac and Bud."

"Sure thing, Harm." Meg replied waving her fingers at Harm who grinned back at her.

"Cozy…you know her?" Sturgis said after Meg had retreated back into her office.

"Yeah, she was my first…" he paused for a moment to contemplate his next words as Sturgis looked at him funny. "constant legal partner before she got transferred to Weapons."

"Oh…" Sturgis said.

"Mac and Bud are in the conference room." Sturgis said waving off a thanks from Harm.

Harm noticed YN2 Coates. She smiled up at him. "Nice to see you, sir…" her tone was eager.

"Nice to see you too, Jennifer." He grinned. He'd always liked the young yeoman.

"The admiral's out but I'll let him know you're here." She said; after having talked to the admiral that morning and gotten royally chewed out, she still wanted to have the admiral and Harm mend fences.

Harm dismissively said. "That really won't be necessary" as he walked away from her.

"I believe it is, sir…you two really need to talk to each other." She took a step towards him, her brown eyes were pleading with him to take her advice.

"I really have nothing to say to the admiral…" He turned to find Admiral Chegwidden standing there with a mug in his hand. Nodding curtly, the admiral continued on his way, another legalman passing behind him. Harm shook his head as he made his way out of the office to head towards the conference room.

As the door closed behind him, Jennifer sighed, her countenance downcast. "Damn." She said softly.

JAG BULLPEN

FALLS CHURCH, VA

ONE HOUR LATER

The door opened as Meg's back was turned. She turned around to find Harm standing there smiling. "So. Are you ready to head for lunch?"

"More than ready. I'm famished…since you made me wait." Meg replied with a look that spoke of retribution on his meagre finances and potentially his savings. "I hope that your debit card is more than up to the task of feeding me."

Harm rolled his eyes and muttered "I hope so too…"

"I heard that."

"I meant for you to hear that."

The two of them linked arms and headed out the door of his office when Mac and Bud came back into the office. Meg took the opportunity to wave at Bud and Mac saying "I'm going for lunch. Be back later." She grinned unrepentantly as the door was closing , they could hear the door to Mac's office being slammed…hard.

"I think she's annoyed." Harm said smugly.

"I'm sure she is." Meg agreed.


	4. Let's Hash This Out

"Let's Hash This Out"

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

TUESDAY 1330 HRS

"Did you see that?" Mac hissed venomously to Harriet as she stalked through the bullpen to the break room. "He had his arms around her! Almost as if he was trying to rub it in!"

"What did you say to him, ma'am." Harriet's eyes flashed. "When he saw you, it seemed as though his eyes were absolutely cold. I've never seen him like that." She paused a moment. "What did you say?"

"I told him, that there would never be anything between us. Quote - Things are never gonna work out between us. Because we both want to be on top and that's physically and emotionally... impossible." Mac grit out, working her jaws as if she was grinding her teeth. "I should never have said that."

Harriet muttered. "No, you shouldn't have. And it's no wonder that he turned to the next person that would be able to give him what he wanted."

Mac's eyes flashed in anger, but she knew that what Harriet was saying was true.

Harriet continued. "You drove him away from you. Ma'am, so what are you going to do about it?"

Just then she saw a Navy rear admiral (lower half) dressed in blues with the one thick gold stripe around his sleeves standing near the bullpen looking a bit lost and confused. Excusing herself from Mac for a moment, Harriet went over to the admiral. "Admiral, sir, may I help you."

He grinned. "I was just looking for Rabb, he said he had a meeting here with his two former attorneys…and I was also here to pick up my wife from judiciary, but I think I'm a little early."

"Commander Rabb went out to lunch, sir, with Commander Meg Austin, the new attorney. Evidently his meeting was finished so he decided to grab a late lunch." Harriet said, while Animal noticed that Mac gritted her teeth; "And, sir. Commander Gracen-Nakamura is still in court hearing an Article 32 case."

Just then Rear Admiral (upper half) Albert Jethro Chegwidden stepped out into the bullpen. "I knew I heard a familiar voice. How are you, Admiral."

"Not too bad, sir." Animal grinned. "Just returned from deployment about a month ago. COMBATGRP2. 6 month cruise in the Med. Lots of sun, lots of water."

"Just the way we liked it…in SPECOPS except we got the lots of sand too." AJ finished off. "So what's it like not being around aircraft as much due to regulations against admirals taking the controls?"

"Hell…" Animal said. "Walking around the smell of jet fuel all the time sucks if you can't be at the controls."

"No abusing admiral's privilege?" AJ responded with a grin. "Thought you'd get in a flight or two somewhere with those stars."

"You forget the leash I've got at home, Admiral." Animal grinned. "Unless I want to be in HER courtroom explaining my actions, I got to toe the line. She's not a three-striper at home, sir. She's the Fleet Admiral."

"I think Commander Nakamura may be in court for a while longer. What do you say we go grab a bite to eat. Talk over old times." AJ grinned. "I'll go grab my cover." Admiral Nakamura grinned back. "Agreed…?" AJ said. "Good."

Harriet and Mac watched the two flag officers exit the JAG office.

SMALL RESTAURANT

NEAR FALLS CHURCH, VA

"Harm, I wasn't expecting this promotion." Meg said as she pondered her newly bought combo cap with the commander/captains scrambled eggs on the underside of the USN Officer's cap insignia. They had stopped by the Navy/Marine Corps PX to pick up the thing before they headed out to eat. "So, now that you're away from JAG…" she sighed. "Where do we stand. I mean, I loved the movie on the weekend, and the chance to hang out together. But where does that put us?" She picked up her burger and took a bite of it while Harm winced. As a vegetarian, he wasn't too keen on having anything with meat on it. "Mac was pretty mad, y'know. The door may need to be repaired by building services. Wonder if the glass pane is still intact?"

Harm's brain was listening to the repartee like it was a tennis match. He wasn't sure if he could keep up with the rapid subject switches. Firstly there was his and Meg's relationship, if they could call it that yet. He was free to pursue her since he wasn't in the chain of command, hell, he wasn't even in the Navy any more. Then she mentioned that she enjoyed the time that they were spending together, then she mentioned Mac and how pissed off she was at the sight of both Meg and him together. He actually kind of felt sorry for Meg and the fact that she would end up being a target of Mac's enmity while he skipped away free from any fallout. "So which of those do you want me to answer first?" He looked into Meg's eyes and grinned.

Meg reached out and held his hands. "So…where do we stand, flyboy. I mean it's been fun."

"I sense a 'but' there." Harm said looking deeply into Meg's eyes.

"Harm, I'm almost 38." Meg said. "By now I thought I'd be having a family. But the Navy has taken up the majority of my career and I don't want to have no chance at a family any more. That's one of the reasons I came back to JAG; to see if I could get into judiciary." She looked out the window with a dreamy look on her face. The unspoken part of it was "if you were still at JAG."

"Are you seeing someone." Harm asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer if she was.

She looked at him as if he was insane. "Harm, do you think I'd have gone with you to the movie or have spent time at your place last weekend if I was seeing someone? There is someone, but he is oblivious or has been, since I left JAG and had no contact with him." He almost swallowed his ice water down the wrong way. Harm didn't have a mirror, but the look on his face nearly made Meg burst out laughing. "You're not in the Navy anymore." She said trying to make a point with him. "You don't need to worry about the UCMJ." Then she said. "Or…is it because you haven't settled things with Mac, yet?"

"The problem is…Meg, that I was in love with Mac, or I thought I was." He sighed. It felt a relief to say that.

"And she didn't reciprocate?" Meg said, wondering why the guy that she wanted so much was always unavailable.

"Like I told you…" Harm said. "She drove me insane." Meg resolved to find out what was going on there by talking to the people that Harm used to work with and finding out just exactly what went on there. Because if there was one thing for certain that pissed Meg off was how Mac was toying with Harm's affections. And if Meg was able to, she was prepared to take Harm off the market for good. "I don't know if I'm over that, yet." Harm said.

"Well." Meg said. "I'm coming over tonight and we're going to have a good long talk about Mac and you and where we stand."…and that statement damned near floored Harm. Meg resisted laughing, as Harm was still fragile from whatever LCOL Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie had said to him. Meg knew what she wanted and how she was going to get it. The only thing that remained was whether Harm was ready for it or was he going to stand there and get steamrolled.

MAC'S OFFICE

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

Mac looked absolutely sour looking up with a glare as Commander Meg Austin strode back into the JAG office. "Lieutenant Sims. On my six." Meg snapped out as she headed into her (she still considered it Harm's office despite the fact that Building Services had replaced the nametag on there and it now read Commander Megan Austin). "You stand there at attention!" Meg snapped as she shut the door then walked over to Harriet and stood nose to nose with the Lieutenant.

"So…" Meg said coldly. "I want to know one thing…Lieutenant." Each syllable of her spoken rank dripped icicles and Harriet knew that she was dealing with someone who wouldn't hesitate to do what she intended. "Just what did Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie do to Harm?"

"I'm not sure what you're asking…" Harriet began.

"You know damned well what I'm asking." Meg cut her off, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. "I know about the relationship between LCOL Mackenzie and Harm; how she strung him along and made him suffer."

"Well, ma'am. He did the same with Renee." Harriet snapped. "As far as I'm concerned; she went to him when she needed help and he waved Renee Peterson in her face. They've been doing this to each other for years."

Meg saw red. "I don't believe it…I really don't believe it. Lieutenant Sims, you are going to tell me every damned thing that you remember about what's gone on between the two of them. Because I can't do my job if I'm deflecting verbal bullets from the Marine Lieutenant Colonel in this office and I don't have the time nor the patience to deal with a Colonel who can't understand that she killed her relationship with Harm and…" Meg hissed the last sentence at Harriet. "resents me for a former partnership with him. Because the first time that she goes off on me, I will return the favor."

Harriet looked into Meg's eyes and saw for the first time just how dangerous Meg could be to Mac's relationship with Harm. And she didn't see a Commander that was guileless as the Lieutenant junior grade Bud remembered on the Seahawk. Commander Meg Austin was every inch a commander in rank as well as in demeanor and she was also as canny as a strategist and she was prepared to use every bit of her guile to achieve her objective. Above all she saw the brief twinge of softness in Meg's eyes when she mentioned Harm's name and alarm bells went off in her mind as her mind processed the information that this commander was in love with Harmon Rabb Jr. and that she would be prepared to give Mac a run for her money. And quite possibly Commander Meg Austin would come out the winner. So Harriet sat down and told Meg everything that she could possibly remember. When Harriet was finished, she felt frozen by the commander's cold stare.

"Dismissed." Was all Meg said.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

"Good to catch up on old times." AJ said as he walked back into the JAG office with Rear Admiral Lower Half Toshio Nakamura. "We need to do that again sometime. Next time I'll pick the restaurant."

"You got it. Admiral." Animal said.

A redheaded, blue-eyed Commander in navy blue tunic and skirt was stepping down the staircase looking over at the two flag officers. "Do I hear somebody I recognize?" Commander Liandra Gracen-Nakamura smiled as she came over to the two flag officers. "Sirs."

"Well, Admiral, permission to usher my lovely wife out of the office for the rest of the day?" Animal grinned.

"Permission granted. Admiral." AJ grinned. "And Commander, your husband is welcome anytime in the JAG office." At this Lia raised an eyebrow. "And no, he isn't greasing your skids to higher rank. Commander, your performance on the bench is doing that for you. When you achieve Captain, it will be because you earned it, not due to your husband's rank."

"Thank you, sir."

HARM'S APARTMENT

NORTH OF UNION STATION

WASHINGTON DC

TUESDAY EVENING

1830 HRS

Harm was looking through his refrigerator going over what was said today during the course of the lunch date that he had with Meg. The fridge contained enough to make a vegetarian lasagna. It was be done by the time Meg would arrive at his apartment.

JUST OUTSIDE HARM'S APARTMENT

1910 HRS

A soft knock on the door sounded just as Harm had pulled the vegetarian lasagne out of the oven. "Just a minute!" He called out. He set the lasagne on the counter to cool as he pulled off his oven mitts and headed for the door. Opening the door, he grinned finding Meg on the other side of the door. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself." Meg grinned. Dressed in a nice blouse and a pair of jeans, she made her way into his apartment. "So…that smells good."

"Sorry, it's vegetarian lasagne." 

"Oh, I can tolerate no meat for one night." Meg replied.

Sitting down at the table; she looked up at Harm as he doled out the portions onto the plate. "I hope that your afternoon wasn't too affected by Mac." He ventured.

"Oh, no…" Meg affirmed. "I put a stop to that by grilling Harriet on a hot platter." Harm's eyebrows went up at that. "She coughed up some interesting information."

"Oh?" Harm said shortly.

Meg reached out her hand to take his as he sat down. "I can't believe you'd keep chasing after her after she went with Mic after you showed her just how much you despised him. Then she goes and dumps him, tries to find herself, pushing you away while she then resents you for 'not being there' then to top it all off she goes out with that CIA spook after she came back from that mission that you said was CIA classified. If some guy treated me like that, I'd dump them within two seconds."

"Never could keep a secret from you, Meg." Harm sighed, a sad look in his eyes.

"I'm too determined to find out things." Meg laughed. "Plus…" she whispered softly. "I have a vested interest."


	5. An Offer You Can't Refuse

To: (Guest) – Reviewer – Thank you for the "catch". :D Had to adjust Harm's age to fit the 1963 birthday too.

"An Offer You Can't Refuse"

"You have a what?" Harm looked at Meg in shock.

"That's right." Meg admitted softly holding his hands. "After all that Mac did to you…" she said angrily at the depth of the hurt that Mac had inflicted on Harm. "I'm surprised you still have any bit of feeling for her."

"I don't know…" Harm said sighing. "I didn't know. But when you look at it the way you've been presenting it. It doesn't make sense that I should keep pursuing her, does it?"

"Not from where I'm sitting." Meg replied. "But that's not up to me; is it." Meg stood up…taking the empty plate from which she had finished the vegetarian lasagna to the sink. After placing the plate in the sink, she turned around. "The question is…Harm, are you going to keep having her use you like this emotionally beating you or are you going to call it off." She walked over to Harm, taking his hands again, pulling him up to her. "Because I never left you…but I did leave something of mine behind." She said softly. "Harm."

"What." Harm asked, not really understanding where this was going.

Meg pulled him to her encircling her arms around him…and giving him a kiss; feeling a slight resistance at first, then he yielded to her desire returning the kiss with equal passion, his broken heart seeming to mend and become whole. "My heart, Harm." She whispered as they separated for breath. "That's why I'm willing to fight for you." And she said "And Colonel Mackenzie had better be prepared for battle, because I am ready."

"You love me?" Harm sounded absolutely surprised. Where had this come from? This came out of left field from somewhere he hadn't been expecting. The simple fact that his former partner loved him left him buffeted in the storm. Through the year that Meg and he had been partners, she had been a strait-laced by the book partner, not giving in to displays of affection, other than when he had gotten promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Oh, they had flirted and given off the impression of being best friends, but still, she wouldn't go beyond their assigned ranks and decorum expected of said rank structure.

"Would I have played tonsil hockey with you just now, if I didn't? you dolt!" Meg growled. "Oh…you men! Dense as usual!"

How he had missed Meg. When she had left him during the incident with Diane's murder and being falsely charged for her murder; the NSA had approached her with a new billet to get her out from under their hair. She related to him how she had admitted to Commander Krennick about loving him while he was imprisoned in China. And that's where he saw the absolute depth of the love in Meg's eyes.

"…and that's why…I took the opportunity to take the Weapons position, because ultimately they swore to do things to you…" she paused for a moment, a hitch in her voice, struggling to not betray her emotions. "…to make you disappear. Somebody wanted you gone. I couldn't sacrifice you to stay at JAG. Harm and that's why I left so suddenly."

Harm opened his mouth. Somebody had been willing to kill him. He knew that he had enemies, but he didn't know that they had the connections to make him disappear. "Then how were you able to come back."

"They were eliminated. Swept." Meg said implying that they were hunted down and killed. "Somebody above looked into things; saw that a rogue section tried to eliminate you and they decided to eliminate those responsible. So it was safe to come back to JAG…and I came back only to find out that you're gone." She paused as he held her in his arms. "along with an opportunity that I couldn't resist."

Harm looked at her with pain in his eyes as his brain digested all of what Meg was telling him. "Meg. You've been through so much pain."

Meg nodded. "And a lot of it was psychological, Harm. Not knowing where you were, not knowing if I was ever going to be able to return. I put off having a life period because I didn't know what was going to happen." She shuddered. "And the thought of putting someone through the torture that I was going through, that anything could potentially happen to them. It just wasn't going to be a part of the relationship equation. So I stayed away from relationships altogether."

"I can't truly comprehend what you went through, Meg." Harm said. "But you have someone who is willing to listen here." He held her hands as she looked at him; a fearful look in her eyes that she was about to be rejected. "I'm still healing from what Mac put me through…" he said, his eyes full of pain. "I resign my commission, I go down to Paraguay, get shot at, and she turns around and she kisses Webb, right in front of my face, as if to rip my heart out and put salt in the open wound." What was it that made Harm just open up to his former partner. She just had that ability to be able to get him to talk.

Meg got up and walked around the loft looking at the various pictures. When her eyes happened on the photo of "father and son in the F-4", she picked it up and looked at it.

"One of the reasons why I'm so faithful to Mac is that she was the one who went with me to Russia where I found my father." He paused a moment as he struggled to regain control over his emotions. "Too late, however. He was killed by Russian soldiers in Siberia and was buried somewhere out on the tundra, place unknown. He also had another son, my step-brother. Sergei. He was a sergeant in the Russian military." He picked up a photo of a Russia military man.

As Harm put down both photos, Meg turned around to take him in her arms. She whispered. "If it was me, I'd have gone too." And Harm could see the truth in her eyes. "I would have been beside you all the way."

"I know, Meg…" He said softly. "I know."

They knew that it would take time for them to both heal from the scars of what they'd been through. But Harm knew the depth of the love that Meg had for him and this time, he wouldn't let go. As Meg and Harm said their goodbyes at the car, Harm grinned, happy for the first time since Chaco Boreal.

MAC'S APARTMENT

GEORGETOWN

WASHINGTON, DC

Mac did not look the slightest bit happy that evening as she sat on the couch and looked over case files of the court cases between her and Imes. The court cases would have to be reviewed for any hint of improper handling or the decisions could all end up being reversed and retried. For any cases to have to be retried would put an even larger load on the current court docket with witnesses and defendants having to be resubpoenaed. Suffice it to say, the admiral was not pleased nor was the SECNAV. To top off the fact that Harriet had responded to Commander Austin's chew-out by running to her and warning her of Meg's interest in Harm, the SECNAV had come in to AJ's office which resulted in a thorough chewing out of her and Sturgis by the admiral stating quote "WELL GET YOUR GODDAMNED ASSES ON IT!" unquote.

And what really made Mac stew was that Meg was showing unabashed incentive in going after Harm and Harm was showing real interest in his ex-partner from long-ago. That was going to make life really interesting because despite Mac's apparent showing of affection for Clayton Webb, which in reality, was to make Harm extremely jealous and make him pay for the apparent snubbing of her advances in Sydney. Oh, Sarah Mackenzie was a woman who didn't forget being snubbed and she was not about to give up on Harm until she really truly knew that the situation was lost or was in her advantage.

And the fact that both Sturgis and she were overloaded with regards to the over three hundred cases that the Commander Carolyn Imes had tried, it was insanely restricting on the time that she could spend with Clayton Webb.

And lately, Webb was starting to be a liability with his PTSD, because he started to turn to drink to quell his nerves and he'd usually bring over a bottle despite knowing that Mac was a recovering alcoholic and drink it right in front of her, the fumes being an irresistible draw back to the brink. What made it worse was that sometimes he would leave the bottle when he left and the siren call of the bottle was irresistible. Frankly, it took a Herculean effort to keep from taking a drink and falling back into the abyss because she had the shakes too. The ordeal at Chaco Boreal had left her life shattered; the remnants pieced back together in a parody of a psyche.

She knew that she was living a lie, trying to make it seem as though she was intact when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. She showed false bravado and tried to laugh things off. She was inappropriately dismissive when Bud had asked her whether she missed the Commander stating that at least there was nobody firing automatic weapons in the courtroom. That had come out because she was resentful that after the cutting statements that she had made at Harm, that he hadn't come chasing after her. He had sat in a seat on the airplane from Ciudad del Este as far away from her as he could get. When they had reached Andrews, he was the first to get off the plane, despite her asking him to wait, hopping into a cab and departing before she could say anymore. He did not answer his phone all that weekend. His retreat was about as far as he could get from her, and he wasn't that friendly towards her when he went with her to see Admiral Chegwidden. After that meeting it was a defeated Harm that had gone into his office to clear out his things and when he had called out to Tiner as he tossed his Commander/Captain's officer's cap to him and said "For when you make Commander, Tiner, Hope that it brings you better luck than it did me." Mac had wanted to cry for him, but that would have been improper in uniform.

REAR ADMIRAL CHEGWIDDEN'S OFFICE

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

WEDNESDAY 0830 HRS

"Sir, if I may." Commander Sturgis Turner ventured. "We are extremely overloaded with these cases and it would be extremely helpful if we could get…"

If RADM Chegwidden's eyes were lasers they would have bored a hole through Commander Sturgis Turner. AJ knew exactly what Turner was implying and he didn't like it one bit. Sturgis knew that he was going to get a serious verbal blasting. "Commander." The rear admiral growled ominously. "If I had wanted Mr. Rabb back in my command, would he not be in his office right now? Would you not be back in your storage closet of an office?"

"Yes, sir." Sturgis locked up tight standing at attention. RADM Chegwidden stood up, slamming his chair back.

"Mr. Turner!" AJ growled. "Since none of these things have taken place, wouldn't it be evident that he is no longer welcome back in this office?" He looked like a shark circling his prey as he slowly walked around Turner. "There are things that you have no business inquiring about. And whether I had brought back Mr. Rabb or kicked his ass out into the Arctic Circle is one of them. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." Turner said. He knew he was treading the line of insubordination and had no intention of crossing over it.

"And just how many of Commander Imes' files have you managed to get through?" AJ asked, his question cold and calculating.

"Sir…twenty-seven, sir."

"And that's between your court appearances." AJ's eyebrows had raised up to about halfway to his crown and his eyes looked about as friendly as a raptor hunting a rabbit.

"Yes, sir." Turner braced himself waiting for the verbal eruption.

"WELL THEN GET YOUR ASS BACK TO WORK!" was the bellowed admonition. "DISMISSED!"

"YES, SIR!" Turner said as he retreated from Chegwidden's lair and quickly closed the door to be met by YN2 Jennifer Coates and a worried look that spoke volumes.

"I wouldn't disturb him right now. Yeoman Coates." Turner said as he removed himself quickly from RADM Chegwidden's outer sanctum.

"Understood, sir." Coates retreated back to her desk.

PENTAGON

WASHINGTON DC

0900 HRS

"Mr. Secretary of the Navy, sir." Animal nodded as he looked at SECNAV Sheffield. "You requested my presence, sir."

"I've been looking over your military record, Admiral Nakamura." SECNAV Edward Sheffield smiled. "We have a billet that needs filling. Deputy Commander NAVAIRSYSCOM. This will entail that you go up in grade by one star."

"Sir, if I may." Animal asked, his brows furrowed. "I don't have an engineering degree, sir."

"But you are a decorated naval aviator who knows what his squadron needs in terms of real life weapons systems and you've loosed weapons in anger with devastating effect, meaning that you have tactical combat experience and that's what we need in NAVAIRSYSCOM. Not just the slide-rule and calculator types. We need real-world experience to draw upon." SECNAV Sheffield insisted.

"Sir…if that's what you feel the billet needs, I would be more than happy to take the position."

"Your RADM position is effective immediately. You can pick up your new uniform accroutements at the PX."

"Thank you. Sir."

"You will also need a JAG at NAVAIRSYSCOM to assist your command and I've notified the commanding officer, VADM Mitch Hadfield and I know just the officer, I've taken the opportunity to talk with BUPERS and with the Chief of Naval Operations, who has made effective the date of his reinstatement into the United States Navy, as soon as you indicate that he would be willing. And if he doesn't, then you can enlist this other officer as a Command JAG…" he handed a second officer's file folder" of course the secondary option would create a slight problem as this billet has a O-6 ranking requirement and she was just recently promoted to O-5. Now, you need to get to that first officer before Chegwidden does."

"Oh, I'm sure I will be able to talk him into it." Animal grinned as he looked at the name on the file. He had another visit to make to Blacksburg.

An elated RADM (two star) left SECNAV Sheffield's office and headed for the Pentagon PX.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

WEDNESDAY

0900 HRS

"A word with you, Commander." Mac said, her exotic brown eyes not betraying a hint of emotion. "Since you've been familiarized with the systems in place here at JAG Headquarters, I believe that you could be of some use with regards to the backlog of files here. I was wondering if you might be able to assist us on the backlog of Imes' cases that we have to review." Inside though Mac was saying to herself with some smugness 'That ought to keep her at home and busy.'

Meg grinned at her. "I'd be happy to." she smiled frostily at Mac knowing exactly what Mac had planned. 'Not on your life.' She thought. 'if Mac thinks that'll keep me away from Harm, she's got another thing coming.' She'd just review the Imes' cases with Harm. "Is that all, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie?"

"My office, please." Mac said ushering Meg forward into her office, following her then shutting the door.

"So, what did you wish to speak with me about?" Meg asked.

"I'll fight you for him." Mac said simply.

"Excuse me." Meg said. "You'll fight me for who?"

"Harm." Mac stated. "You have one year of experiences with him, I have seven, so where does that leave you."

"I don't think that this is the place that we need to be discussing this." Meg said coldly staring down at Mac, her blue eyes flashing. "This is a military installation and this is closely drawing the line for an Article 133, Lieutenant Colonel! I suggest that you back off…and regain your composure. Is that all?" Mac didn't say anything in reply. "I believe then that I will leave you to your work." She exited the door closing it without a sound.

Mac just fumed. 'That bitch' was the only phrase that ran through her mind.

GRACE AVIATION

BLACKSBURG, VA

Harm looked at Mattie as he grinned while wrestling a piston back into the engine of his Stearman. "Dang, you've been running this place for that long?"

"Ever since my dad decided to bail on me." Mattie replied, then looked up to see a Navy Sedan pull up in front of the Grace Aviation hangar and a very familiar admiral dressed in RADM blues. "Who's he?"

"My old Navy flight school instructor." Harm said. "I wonder why he's here."

"I hope he isn't coming to take you in chains, is he?"

"No he doesn't have any connection with the legal system." He walked towards the admiral's car and the admiral. "So, what can I do for you? Animal?" They both sized each other up.

"Well…Harm." Animal said. "I've got a proposition for you."

"I've got a job." Harm said. "One that I like very much."

"It involves getting you back in uniform and on top of that you don't have to go back to JAG. You'll be working for me and my new boss Vice-Admiral Hadfield." Animal stated. "Had a brief talk with SECNAV. He'd be willing to reinstate you at O-6, Captain. The six months you were with the spooks would be classified as TDY."

"There's been a new complication." Harm said. "Meg's back…and Mattie here has been running the business by herself. If I leave her, then Mattie's got nothing."

Animal was confused. "Who's Meg…" Then a flash of memory came back. That was the other folder that SECNAV Nelson had given him. "Hate to say this. If you refuse. I have to take Meg."

Harm's face turned hard. "You're what?"

"SECNAV gave me her folder too. If you don't agree, then I end up putting Meg in that position…not only has she not gotten enough time in rank to be promoted to O-6 as she's just been a Commander for maybe all of two days. But SECNAV needs that COMJAG position filled fast enough that he's willing to overlook that."

"Shit, Animal…" Harm said. "That's fucking blackmail!"

"Call it what you want. Look, I'll give you until Monday to think it over. Talk to AJ...He may want to take you back, but you can be damned sure that I'll get one of you two." Animal said as he opened the door to the car. "Think that you two won't be in the same chain of command."

"What?"

"You got feelings for Commander Austin." Animal said. "I'm not blind." He said pointing at his wings. "Think about it." He closed the door and motioned for his driver to head off.

When Harm came back to the hangar, Mattie looked at him. "You're going back to the Navy, aren't you?"

"I don't know that, yet, Mattie."

"He didn't seem to give you much of a choice." Mattie said turning away, then she whirled back. "Are all admirals assholes so much?"

"Not him. He stands by his men. He's a good commander who sticks up for his men and doesn't leave them behind." Harm said as he looked into the sky at the setting sun.


	6. Here's My Offer, Take It or Leave It

GRACE AVIATION

BLACKSBURG, VA

1845 HRS

'Unlike a certain RADM with a budweiser.' Harm thought. 'Animal never hung his men out to dry.' He thought as he quietly worked on the piston cleaning it and making sure that it was in working condition as he told Mattie why he knew Animal and why he would work for Animal if he had a chance to. "Animal, otherwise known as Rear Admiral Toshio Nakamura, as you saw there, was a commander when two of his crew went down over North Korea. He did not stop trying to get his men out. After haranguing the CAG (Commander of Air Group) about getting a group of SEALS in to get them out. When he went in with them, the SEALs got ambushed by a regiment of North Korean Republican Guards. Commander Nakamura gave covering fire with his M-16 while the SEALs went in and secured the aircrew. He inflicted heavy casualties on their forces, while risking his life. His actions directly impacted the success of the mission, making absolutely certain that his men came back from their mission, as well as preserving the lives of the SEALs. He earned the Medal of Honor for this. Mattie, that's why I believe in him and I'd be happy to serve under his command, but I need to sort this out." Harm said as he finished working on the piston.

"How do you know all about this?" Mattie asked Harm.

"I was the officer assigned to his Medal of Honor recipient qualification investigation which made sure that he received the Medal of Honor." Harm replied shortly. Mattie took a long moment to think about that.

"Well, are you going to be here tomorrow? I need you to cover three fields tomorrow with DEF." Mattie said, her eyes looking as if she was going to be betrayed again. Mattie; betrayed by her father, didn't trust many people, one of the few being Harm, and it looked like he was leaving her too. Just like everyone else, Harm had one step out the door.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

THURSDAY, 0830 HRS

Jen Coates could feel the chill in the air whenever Commander Meg Austin and Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie were in the same room. Evidently Meg and Mac didn't like each other at all, especially after Meg had made it official with both Mac and Harriet that she was going after Harm and that she wasn't going to cave to their efforts to make life unpleasant for her.

Mac looked frostily over at Meg who was smiling pleasantly at Bud during the course of the Monday morning meeting. The simple fact that Meg was smiling irritated Mac a lot. That meant that Meg's relationship with Harm was going well and that Mac's chances were slowly dwindling to nil.

Meg, on the other hand, had thoughts that were racing through her mind. That Wednesday evening, Harm had told Meg of Animal's offer and the fact that to him it seemed like blackmail; the tantalizing offer of an O-6 position and rank as well as the fact that Animal had said that he was going to take either Meg or Harm for the position. Meg even mentioned that she had so little time in rank at O-5 that it would make more sense for Harm to take the position and that she would stay at JAG while he went to NAS Patuxent River. Meg knew that Mac was extremely rank-conscious and would take every single opportunity to gain eagles. And the simple fact that Meg wouldn't take an opportunity that didn't fit her qualifications. Harm on the other hand had aviation experience as a naval aviator and it wouldn't be just for the O-6 rank. It would mean his being able to be around aircraft. Not that it didn't worry Meg; but she knew that flying was Harm's life. To take away Harm's ability to fly would be taking away an integral part of what made Harm…Harm.

Those thoughts were interrupted by Admiral Chegwidden snapping out. "OK…that's all." The case loads had been gone through and everything disseminated.

Just as the officers headed back to the bullpen. Admiral Chegwidden looked up to see Animal again in the office. "How nice to see you. Admiral." Instead of the one broad stripe of a RDML (lower half - one star), Animal was wearing an equivalent 1 broad stripe and 1 standard stripe of a RADM(upper half – two star).

"Morning, AJ. Just thought that I'd drop by and talk to you."

"Come on in my office, Admiral." AJ said as he ushered Animal through the open door, walked in and shut the door. "So what can I do for you, Admiral?"

"I just had a talk with Commander Rabb." Animal said.

"Oh. God, has he now gone up the ranks?" AJ snarled disgustedly.

"Hell, no, AJ…He's dusting crops for a living, some firm called Grace Aviation up in Blacksburg. So I offered him a job." Animal said. "He wanted to talk to you first prior to accepting the job offer and reinstatement of his commission."

"And I fired his ass out the door. Admiral." AJ said irritatedly, "So how…forget it…I know how. You had a talk with SECNAV, didn't you?" his tone was bitter.

"You know me too well, but actually, SECNAV called me in, gave me the Deputy NAVAIRSYSCOM position which gave me my two stars. AJ." AJ looked at the rear admiral upper half with an 'are you out of your goddamned mind' expression. And that damned aviator admiral looked about as smug as a pig in shit. "And I need a lawyer with an aviation background. But I'll be fair, AJ, I'm giving you a chance to get him back before he jumps all over my offer. I'd suggest you go and talk to him, either today or tomorrow. Because Monday…he's mine." Animal said firmly. Medal of Honor versus Budweiser (Navy SEAL insignia). Budweiser loses. AJ looked through Animal's rack with a cursory gaze. Naval Aviator wings, Medal of Honor, Navy Cross. 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medal (25 combat actions), yep, his Budweiser lost and lost badly.

"Well, thanks…I think…" AJ muttered as he gathered up his folders.

"Since that's all I came here to say, I'm gonna usher myself out. Have yourself a nice day, AJ." Animal replied as he got up and headed out the door.

"Shit…" AJ said quietly. The stakes were being raised to damned near impossible. He would certainly have to think about this. Damn Animal and SECNAV. And his command wondered at his lack of hair. "I bloody well had hair before I came to this command!" he grumbled to himself.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

0330 HRS

Seeing Harmon Rabb Jr. in the hallway raising his hand to the Admiral, the admiral snorted and turned away only to be confronted by his Yeoman.

"Admiral, talk to him…" Coates pleaded.

"Petty Officer, you're not going to make me sorry I made you my yeoman, are you?" He strode over two her, two short steps.

"I can't promise you that, sir." Jen said knowing that she was on very thin ice.

AJ's eyebrows raised at that answer. "Petty Officer, you are flirting with…"

"Insubordination, sir." Coates finished.

AJ raised his voice incredulously at her gall "Do you think I'm incapable of finishing a…"

"sentence," Coates said as AJ turned away in frustration. "Sorry, sir. I apologize."

"I do not want to hear what you…" AJ paused to see if Coates would try again, or dig her hole deeper. Coates kept nodding her head like a bobble-head opting for silence. "…have to say…"

"Yes, sir."

"Not one word…"

"No, sir."

"I am not interested in you taking the Commander's side, or if you think I should take him back." Turning away from Coates, he gesticulated with his right hand sharply "I am not interested if... if you think I'm being unreasonable, or... " AJ crossed his arms as he moved over to the door of his office. "…or pig-headed, or... or unfair!"

"No, sir." Coates said quietly "There's no need for that. Because you already know it." And then hastily said "Sorry, sir!" as AJ turned towards her with a stony look then turned away from Coates to reach in for his cover and his overcoat.

"You know, Petty Officer, people don't like to be *handled*." He leaned in, a threatening look on his countenance.

"Yes, sir." Coates gulped thinking that her career was going to go down the toilet.

"So if you do it, you damned sure better be right." AJ growled… then under his breath he muttered. "As you were this time." He whirled around and headed out of the office. Coates let out a breath that she didn't remember holding, a small smile on her face as she turned back towards the desk.

AJ grumbled to himself on the way to the his black Cadillac Escalade. "Damn Rabb, Damn Nakamura, Damn SECNAV Sheffield." He muttered as he tossed his briefcase into the back of his vehicle and got in the front.

GRACE AVIATION

BLACKSBURG, VA

A Black Cadillac Escalade stopped at the open hangar doors of Grace Aviation. AJ turned the ignition off and stepped out. Closing the door he walked in just as the young girl was finishing up a story with… "They opened the doors at both ends of the hangar and Uncle Zeke flew right through."

"Upside down?" Harm stated with some amusement nodding his head.

"Damn straight" the young girl replied.

"Well, your uncle's a pretty crazy guy." Harm laughed, shaking his head.

AJ chose that moment to interject. "Hell, you oughta know." He walked over slowly "How are you, Commander?" he said doing a slow once over look of the inside of the hangar at the planes in various stages of maintenance.

"Well, AJ…" Harm replied. "I'm fine…and it isn't Commander any more, is it?" he said, getting that shot in while he could.

"Force of habit." AJ said brusquely as he looked up at the prop and engine cowling of a blue Piper Cub sitting in the hangar. Turning around 180 degrees to face away from Harm, he said over his shoulder. "How about a drink?"

"You buyin'?" Harm asked as he put down his cardboard cup.

AJ half-turned in response. "Dutch treat." He said briefly.

Harm paused to contemplate this for a long moment, looking into Mattie's eyes as she stared worriedly at him. Lord knew what thoughts were going through her head, probably thinking that her best pilot was going to walk out on her and go back to the Navy. But AJ's offer, in light of the offer that Animal had placed in front of him didn't seem so inviting anymore. Maybe it was AJ's way of mending fences to go talk to him, offer him a drink or something, but Harm was past that now. "OK…" He said as he stood up and faced the admiral for the first time face to face in over six months."

"So what exactly is it you do here?" AJ looked dismissively at the whole hangar.

"Crop-dusting."

"Do you enjoy it?" The admiral gave him an incredulous look as if he didn't believe it.

"Pays three hundred a day." She leaned over the table as if to challenge AJ.

"Hmph." AJ snorted dismissively as he turned away to look at the tools on the far wall. "You know, ah…don't you think this is a waste of your talents?" He started walking towards the hangar doors as Harm matched him in pace, Mattie following two steps behind.

Harm looked at him. "No…put in my hours, don't have to wear a suit and tie and I like my boss."

"Harm…" Mattie interrupted glaring daggers at AJ saying contemptuously "Is this bald guy the jerk who fired you?" At that the admiral paused a moment before turning around.

"Well…I uh… didn't really fire him, I just, uh…didn't ask him back."

"Well, around here, that's called firing." Mattie smirked at him.

AJ wasn't too sure if he liked the smug-looking little girl that was upbraiding him. "And you are?" he asked dismissively.

"Mattie Grace, his new boss." Mattie replied extending her hand out to shake the admiral's outstretched hand. The admiral couldn't believe it.

He looked at Harm with a disbelieving raise of his eyebrows. "She's kidding right?" his tone was decidedly incredulous. 

"Mattie runs the day to day operations of Grace Aviation." Harm confirmed Mattie's status in the company.

AJ was trying to wrap his mind around this bit of information as he nodded. "So, now you're working for a little girl. Hm." He snorted a bit more derisively and headed towards his vehicle.

Harm rolled his eyes at Mattie who was looking worried, yet disgusted at the pedantic nature of the admiral. Then Harm made his way over to follow the admiral.

"See you tomorrow?" Mattie asked worriedly.

"Bright and early." Was Harm's response as he kept walking as Mattie rested her hands on a Yellow Ag-Cat's wing.

"You've got the Earl farm. It's got a nasty crosswind so watch out for the high tension wires on the west end.

Harm nodded and said. "See you, boss."

Mattie watched them long after they were dots in the distance, her worried countenance betraying the fears that she had ever since Admiral Nakamura had made his appearance there on Wednesday afternoon.

AT A BAR IN BLACKSBURG

"Thought it was time we had a talk." AJ ventured as he brought the two beers over from the bar while Harm was pitching two darts at a dartboard.

"Thought we were done talking." Harm replied.

"So did I, turns out there was more to say." AJ stated.

"I can't imagine what that would be." Harm muttered sarcastically as he went to pick the two darts from the dartboard.

"Boy, you're damned annoying." AJ said with an annoyed look on his face.

"Is that what you drove a hundred miles to tell me?" Harm asked, sarcasm written all over his face.

"Part of it." AJ replied, nursing his beer, and looking up out of the corner of his eye at Harm.

"Well, I'm also…and here I'm paraphrasing…" Harm said as he turned back to the dartboard, dart in hand. "not a team player…" punctuating his point with a dart throw, "and controlled by my emotions."

AJ nodded his head affirmatively. "All that's true."

"Look, why are you here?" Harm turned from throwing darts at the dartboard with a hint of annoyance, looking square at AJ who was sitting down nursing his beer. "…admiral…what…you come looking for absolution or…" He paused sarcastically waving a hand palm up in the air. "did you come to gloat…or…" he said quietly with a great deal of venom, "did you just wanna ride in an airplane…"

"You're bordering on insubordination…Rabb" AJ started to snap, but Harm cut him off.

"I'm a civilian now, A.J. I'm not in your Navy." Harm retorted with a hint of anger in his tone.

AJ slammed his beer down and stood up…he hated having to admit that he needed Rabb to come back. Stating the fact that Imes debacle had him having to review cases that Harm was involved in, he knew he sounded like he was pleading with that 'stubborn' lawyer to don the uniform again. And Harm knew it. That damned flyboy had a deadpan expression on his face but AJ knew better, that Harm was smirking inside and AJ just wanted to smash that internal smirk into tiny pieces. But he knew that wasn't the way to go, so he took the best shot that he could…verbally. Sitting back down he stated to Harm who looked at him. "Harm, It's time to stop being Peter Pan, a little boy who likes to fly and never grow up. You're not going to have the life you want until you learn to take responsibility for your actions, not with work, not with women, in any facet of your life." Getting up to leave, as he turned to go, he took his final shot. "Let me know what you decide."

AJ hadn't taken two steps when Harm tossed back to AJ's retreating back; dripping with gloating and satisfaction in his tone. "You're here, admiral, because you *need* me. I'm an excellent lawyer. Plus, the officer you chose to replace me is looking at seven years of hard labor." He paused for a moment. "And Admiral Nakamura has a pretty sweet pot with the O-6 offer as COMNAVAIRSYS JAG." He tossed out. "It's gonna take me a while to see which one I choose. Admiral Nakamura wants me to make my mind up by Monday."

Resisting the urge to get angry, AJ just said with as much finality as he could as he turned around for a second. "All of that is true. If you come back to JAG on Monday, we'll start fresh, your commission reinstated – I can't give you the O-6 commission, the billet won't allow it, but... Let me know what you decide." After he said it, he turned around and walked out of the bar.

Harm sat there for a long moment weighing his choices, his own beer in his hand. If he chose Animal's billet, he'd be an O-6 and he was coming up on the rank anyways in an year or two, but this way, he'd be deep-selected for Captain and he'd be around airplanes. As much as he loved JAG, he couldn't see himself coming back to work there with the toxic atmosphere. He couldn't trust the commanding officer any more and who he'd be teamed with for JAGMAN investigations would be intolerable. So as he emptied his beer, he came to a decision. He'd have to talk it over with Meg over the weekend.


	7. You Blindsided Me, Admiral!

HARM'S APARTMENT

NORTH OF UNION STATION

WASHINGTON DC

THURSDAY

1845 HRS

"Harm, I noticed that Admiral Nakamura was in today." Meg said. She remembered that from the JAGMAN investigation in 1995 as second officer on the case and how driven Harm was to get then Commander Nakamura the award as was given by then Commodore James Pointer the battlegroup commander involved in the SEAL Team rescue of a VF-41 Black Aces Tomcat crew that had gone down doing a TARPS recon mission over North Korea. "I think he was meeting with AJ."

"Yeah. I had a talk with AJ today too." Harm said as he looked at Meg. "He came back, proffered the Imes cases and not a whole lot else. Animal, if you recall, on the other hand came by to see me yesterday and proffered me a damn good offer, O-6 and COMNAVAIRSYS JAG."

Meg looked at him. "You'd be crazy not to take Admiral Nakamura's offer. You told me about it back on Wednesday night and I think it's probably the best offer you're going to get out of the whole deal."

"Add to that: the office situation is toxic over at JAG HQ." Harm replied as she held his hands.

"Harm, whatever you decide is up to you…" She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips which he eagerly accepted. It seemed as though deep down in his heart he had reconciled that Meg was his woman. He had missed her so much when she had disappeared and he couldn't believe his good fortune that she was back in his life. "…and I support your decision whatever it is, just so long as I get one promise."

Harm looked at her blue eyes. "And…" he paused searching in their depths for the answer to everything that he ever dreamed possible.

"And that's that I get to always be in your life."…and there it was.

"But…" Harm said pausing dramatically and making Meg fear that she was being set up for rejection. "what if I want more?" he said taking her by the hands. "What if I want forever? If I went back to JAG I wouldn't be able to make things work the way I want it to. I wouldn't be able to have you, because we'd be in the same chain of command."

"And with you at Patuxent River?" Meg thought to ask. "How will we make it work? Not that I'm saying that we can't. I just want a solution to our problems before we go over. And above all, you're going to have to tell Admiral Chegwidden that you're not accepting his offer."

"I know…and that's probably the easiest part of the decision." Harm said. "I don't mind the fallout, just so long as it doesn't affect you. Nor do I care what it is that Admiral Chegwidden thinks. I'm beyond that." He paused as he took a drink of the wine that they were having with dinner. "I'm just glad that I'm not in the same chain of command so that I can pursue a relationship with you."

"I'm glad of that too." Meg said. "I think you need to call Admiral Nakamura and tell him that you need to discuss this with him at JAG HQ. That way you tell both Admiral Chegwidden and Nakamura at the same time. And I'll be with you every step of the way, Harm." It was too early in their relationship to start calling each other pet-names and endearments. Each of them were feeling out the relationship and finding where they stood. At least they knew anyhow that they were a part of each other's lives and that was the number one thing.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

FRIDAY MORNING

0830 HRS

Animal strode through the twin doors of the JAG office resplendent in service dress blues. "Good morning." He said as the whole bullpen snapped to attention. "As you were. I'm just visiting. Save it for the JAG."

"Who is right behind him." AJ said "What brings you out this morning…to gloat."

"Nope, Admiral. Commander Rabb told me that he made a decision and that he'd like to present his decision at the JAG office." Animal stated. "And no, Admiral. I have absolutely no idea what his decision is."

'Like hell he doesn't.' AJ thought to himself. 'Dangling an O-6 commission in front of Rabb is like hanging a red blanket in front of a bull…and expecting him not to charge. No idea…bullshit.'

Rabb came in dressed in civilian suit and tie. "Mr. Rabb." AJ said. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you too, AJ." He said. "Getting that last in before I end up having to call you sir again."

"Testing the waters of an Article 89, aren't you?" AJ muttered sarcastically as Harm ignored him.

"Good to see you too, Animal." Harm said. Animal just grinned at him.

"Good morning. Harm." Animal replied. There really was no 'I am superior officer' attitude that Animal had. 18 months of basic and advanced flight training syllabus had beaten that out of the two. Animal, though he was wearing the stripes of a rear admiral (upper half) was just Animal, his former flight instructor and that was the friendship the two of them had had over the years regardless of their difference in rank. Animal had instilled 'self-confidence in his flight skills' in his young student that enabled Harm to have the guts to do the Pardo Push over Bosnia, saving his wingman, which earned Harm his 2nd Distinguished Flying Cross.

"Well, shall we retire to the conference room." AJ asked.

"I request LCOL Sarah Mackenzie and Commander Meg Austin as witnesses and Yeoman 2 Coates, Commander Sturgis Turner, Lieutenants Sims and Roberts so that I don't have to repeat myself in the bullpen afterwards. Commander Nakamura from the Judiciary to make this official. Am I missing anyone else? " Harm said with a smug look at both of them. Mac frowned as Meg smiled knowingly. Harm didn't miss the cold look that Mac gave Meg when she smiled as Meg already knew what Harm's decision was.

"Very well…" AJ replied, he ushered the other seven officers, one enlisted and one civilian (returning to military service) to the conference room. As they arranged themselves in the room, tellingly, Harm beside Meg, Lia, Jen Coates, Bud and Animal; Mac, Turner, Harriet and AJ on the other side. "Well, Harm, we're waiting…with baited breath."

Harm took a long look at AJ and Mac, passing his gaze between Animal, Harm's friends at JAG and Meg and then stood up. "In the interests of keeping this meeting as short as possible, I've had the opportunity to review both offers in the light of which they were given. Considering the short-staffed nature of the Judge Advocate General office and balancing the needs of that office with the offer that was presented to me by Admiral Nakamura here as well as the offer of an O-6 position in a command that will have me primarily around aircraft. Believe me, it was a tough decision." At that point Harm paused for another long assessing look at the people around him looking down the other side at Sturgis Turner, Mac, Harriet and AJ.

"Well…" AJ sounded impatient.

"I've decided to take the COMNAVAIRSYS JAG position offered. It offers me the added opportunity of utilizing my experience with naval air systems as well as my JAG experience in legal matters and combines a situation where I will be most comfortable in." At this statement from Harm AJ's brow furrowed. He knew that with Admiral Nakamura's prime offer on the table, he hadn't had a snowball's chance in hell of getting Rabb back.

Mac cried out. "You can't? We need you." Harm noticed that it was a 'we', not an I. How much longer was Mac going to keep him dangling.

"There was also one other mitigating factor for me in order to take the position that Admiral Nakamura offered me, one that Admiral Nakamura himself brought to light and Commander Meg Austin verified." He paused as he scanned Mac's face. Her eyes were not on him, but glaring at Commander Meg Austin who just smiled back at Mac. 'Oh, there was going to be nuclear fireworks.' he thought to himself. "Admiral Chegwidden, there is the matter of my relationship with Commander Meg Austin."

"WHAT?!" Mac's shout came on top of Meg's snicker of laughter at Mac's response and the punctuating gasps of surprise from darned near everybody in the conference room with the exception of Animal and Meg.

"That's an Article 133 charge, COMMANDER RABB!" Admiral Chegwidden thundered. "You could lose your oak leaf for that!"

"Negative, Admiral!" Animal stood up. He'd had enough of AJ's bluster "If I'm led to believe correctly, for an Article 133, you have to be in the same chain of command. Now I'm no lawyer." Animal spit that out as if the word was distasteful in the eyes of a former combat aviator. "But I believe that Commander Austin and Captain..." he paused for a moment to drive that rank home in AJ's mind. "Rabb did not formalize any part of their relationship prior to his becoming a civilian and as far as I'm concerned, their relationship was formalized when Captain Rabb was a civilian so as such, it does not fall under my purview as his new executive officer, the commanding officer being an old friend of mine." Animal said this so smugly that AJ wanted to drive a fist through the oak table…and Animal aimed an evil smirk at AJ. "And besides…" he paused for a moment to let AJ fume a little more. "even if Captain Rabb was in contravention of Article 133 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it is up to the commanding officer to determine whether or not Article 133 charges would even come into play. I believe formalization of Article 133 charges are determined by the CO of the unit rather than at the discretion of the Judge Advocate General. I may be a dumb aviator, Admiral, but I'm not THAT stupid. I'm pretty certain that I could get Vice-Admiral Hadfield to look the other way. When I served with him in VF-41 he was a closet romantic, especially during his recreation time at Naples with the girls there."

Admiral Chegwidden was gritting his teeth so hard that it seemed as though they would bust. Harm took a moment to look at Mac; her eyes were locked with Meg and an expression that clearly read 'This isn't over yet!' was clearly written on her face.

"Now that that's out of the way and you know which way Captain Rabb has decided, I believe there is a promotion ceremony. Animal gathered a garment bag from the chair beside him, unzipped the garment bag, handed him his uniform. I'll give you ten minutes to go get yourself dressed in your proper uniform so that you can take your recommissioning oath. Harm departed with the uniform shirt, pants, shoes etc, that Animal had purchased for him. In ten minutes, he had returned with his service blues on, his four gold stripes gleaming from each sleeve, dressed as a United States Navy Captain. Animal grinned and then raised his own right hand stating solemnly as any formal naval aviator could. "Mr. Rabb…Attention to orders." He grinned. "Raise your right hand, 'I, Harmon Rabb Jr. do solemnly swear, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God'. Congratulations, Captain Rabb." Then he looked at Commander Meg Austin. "Commander, PDA regulations are hereby suspended for the next…oh…" he looked at his watch and grinned. "2 minutes."

Meg grinned back at Animal, threw her arms around Harm and gave him a kiss on the lips while Animal looked over at Mac to assess her reaction. He was sure he could see a nuclear mushroom cloud going up over her head as she fumed in silence. Bud, Lia and Jen were both smiling at the display of affection being shown by Meg Austin and Harm Rabb. Sturgis was indifferent, AJ wasn't happy about this seeing as how he'd lost one of his best lawyers. Harriet just looked sour as she had hoped her friend would have been the one to take Harm off the market.

Mac muttered under her breath. "Oh, this isn't over yet…not by a long shot, squid…"

"Congratulations, sir." Commander Sturgis Turner replied as he extended a hand to Harm once Harm and Meg had separated.

"Sturgis, between the two of us, it'll always be Harm." Harm grinned as he extended a hand.

"Congratulations, Captain. I guess the better man won." AJ extended his hand.

"No, sir. It was just the simple fact that we got off on the wrong foot ever since my resigning my commission to go chase after Mac in Chaco Boreal and just went downhill from there ever since my return. With all due respect, there was no way that I could ever serve under your command after all that has happened; not that it was any of our fault."

"So tell me something, Captain Rabb…" AJ said as he crossed his arms, nodded his head and then looked Harm directly in the eyes. "Was it all worth it?"

"To tell you the truth, not in the way that I had expected that it would turn out, sir. But yes, it was all worth it. It finally told me just exactly where I stood." He left that vague comment out there to stand on its own merits; for the other to figure it out.

"Very well, Captain Rabb. Congratulations on your promotion and good luck at your new posting." AJ nodded as he exited the room. It felt like the end of an era with Harm, but he knew that he was going to a better future.

"Captain, I guess I should say congratulations." Mac said, as she stepped up to him, extending her right hand to shake his. "I didn't realize that it would come to this. That you were departing JAG."

"Oh, I'm still a JAG…it's just that I have a position at Pax River." He grinned. "And a position that finally feels right."

"You know that things aren't going to be the same without you here." Mac said raising an eyebrow at Meg who returned the favor at her. "I guess no more JAGMAN investigations together, right…"

"Nope, I guess, not." Harm replied. Mac gave Meg another look as if to say. 'this isn't over yet.' And said quietly to Harm. "Best of luck on your new position, sir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie." Harm said as Mac turned around and walked out of the conference room.

In the meanwhile, Animal pulled a small sheaf of papers out of his uniform coat, and walked over to Yeoman Coates. "Yeoman Coates?"

"Yes, sir!" Jen snapped into a position of attention as she looked directly at the Asian US Navy Rear Admiral (upper half). "What can I do for you, sir."

"Well, Yeoman Coates…since I appear to be pissing off AJ quite considerably today. I figured I'd do one more thing to send him screaming off the edge..." Animal said with a grin that stretched widely across his face. "I need some staff on my already meagre yeomans' staff, you'd be reporting to Chief Yeoman Leon Trebalos. And since you've indicated how much you hold Captain Rabb in high regard that you'd be much happier where Captain Rabb is." He handed two pages to her keeping two pages for himself.

"Yes, sir." Jen looked up at him with absolute gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you so much, sir."

"Well, Yeoman 2? Would you prefer to present it to Admiral Chegwidden or would you like me to block bullets for you? Jen." He winked at her informally calling her by Coates' first name.

"If it wouldn't be too much problem, sir. I'd prefer to ask you to do it, sir." She said, looking as though she'd much rather face a pit of pissed off Gaboon vipers than present transfer orders to Admiral Chegwidden, especially on a day that he lost his best attorney.

"Not a problem, Jen." Animal grinned relishing the thought. Oh, he loved the joys of being equal rank with Admiral Chegwidden who was fond of the attitude of 'know your rank and place'. 'Stubborn ol' SEAL.' Animal thought to himself. 'See how you like this one!'. "See you on Monday at Pax River, Jen, and those two pages are for you to present to YNC Trebalos."

"Yes, sir…." Jen snapped to with the biggest smile on her face that she could ever have and said joyously "Thank you so much, sir."

Getting greetings and congratulations from the rest of the crowd, Harm and Meg headed out to the bullpen.

In the interim, Jen returning to her desk stated to Admiral Chegwidden on intercom. "RADM Nakamura to see you, sir."

"Alright. Send him in."

REAR ADMIRAL CHEGWIDDEN'S OFFICE

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

Rear Admiral Nakamura grinned as he entered in the office. AJ got up, muttering pungent oaths said. "You blindsided me, Admiral."

"Well, AJ. You dug your own hole." On top of that. Animal tossed the two pages onto his desk. "Congratulations…" Animal gave him a hard look. "SECNAV gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. And on top of that now, I'm short-staffed too so…I took the opportunity to get some orders cut." Animal gave him another hard look as AJ looked over the two sheets of paper.

"YOU'RE GODDAMNED WELL TAKING MY YEOMAN?!" AJ bellowed furious at the fact that Animal was swiping Coates. "Anybody else you want, Nakamura?! Mac? Maybe even Turner!? HOW ABOUT I JUST GIVE YOU MY GODDAMNED OFFICE LIST AND YOU CAN PICK AND CHOOSE HOW YOU WANT TO SCOUR MY OFFICE CLEAN!"

"Not a chance. They don't have the skill-set I'm looking for." Animal retorted. "And you're going to give yourself a myocardial infarction if you don't power down. Admiral!"

JAG BULLPEN

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

Harm, Mac and Meg looked at each other at the cacophony emanating from their commanding officer's office. "Do you know what's going on?" Mac asked. The two admirals appeared to be at each other's throats.

"Ma'am." Jen Coates looked up from hustling papers to and from the various desks and stated. "I think it's because I received orders, ma'am."

"What orders?" Mac looked at Jen in surprise.

"My transfer orders, ma'am." Jen said. "With Captain Rabb now at Pax River, ma'am…" she looked like she was joyous, yet sad locking eyes with Harm, "I have no place here, ma'am. I can't work in this atmosphere, ma'am."

"Where are you going? Coates?" Mac asked.

"I've been transferred, ma'am… to Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Where I can serve a commanding officer and executive officer and a COMNAVAIRSYS JAG that I am able to work under, ma'am." Jen said.

Mac looked as though she was being left behind. "Well…I guess all I can say is good luck to you, Coates."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

Harm grinned. "Well…Jen. Welcome aboard." He extended his hand and shook Coates "It'll be good to see another familiar face at Pax River."

"Thank you, sir."

Meg smiled at Jen, "I'm so glad that he won't be leaving everyone familiar behind. The only one he knows over at Pax River is Admiral Nakamura."

REAR ADMIRAL CHEGWIDDEN'S OFFICE

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

"There any way I can block this?" AJ growled. "You did an end-run around me, Admiral. You bunted and took first while your team-mate took home plate!"

"Don't think so, Admiral." Animal said smugly then gave AJ a more serious look. "The thing I see here, is that your attitude has to change around the office, or retaining your staff is going to be a hell of a chore. I don't know where or when your attitude changed, AJ, but it's been slowly poisoning your office." AJ looked up with a hint of deep anger and was about to bite down on Animal when Animal said, a cold expression on his face. "AJ, you know damned fucking well, that I'm the only one with the rank and uniform around here that will tell you to your face, just exactly what the hell has been going on." He paused as he paced the room. "You either change…AJ or you're going to be facing your exit interview. So this may be your last year in uniform and you may have nothing to lose, thanks to SECNAV telling you it's the highway, AJ, but you damned well better understand that you owe a duty to your staff to make your office a workable atmosphere. So read me and read me well, AJ. This isn't coming from me, it's coming from the Chief of Naval Operations, the SECNAV…and above all, the President of the United States. The repercussions from the atmosphere in your office has been reaching atmospheric heights and it's getting to that…point…where higher ups are taking notice. And trust me, AJ, it's only a matter of time before they take action!"

"And they sent you as the messenger boy to read me the riot act?"

"Could have been worse, AJ…they could've sent my commanding officer. But he had more important things to do, than reading you the riot act!"


	8. Angry AJ

REAR ADMIRAL CHEGWIDDEN'S OFFICE

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

MONDAY

"You know, it stinks that you're poaching my best lawyer and my personal yeoman from my office." glowered Admiral Chegwidden.

"They're not happy here, AJ…not with the way that you've been behaving." Animal said.

"Where'd you hear that?" AJ growled, not pleased with that revelation.

"It doesn't take a clairvoyant. AJ, to feel the atmosphere around here." Animal retorted. "The atmosphere is tense. Everyone's on tender-hooks around here just wondering when the next blow up is going to come. I'm taking two of your catalysts. The rest of it is up to you, AJ…see if you can change. Or the next person who comes here is going to be SECNAV Sheffield with walking papers." Animal turned abruptly. "I'll be seeing you, AJ. I'm sure you got a lot to think about."

When Animal had left, AJ let out a deep sigh and a rather defeated sounding "Goddamnit!"

JAG BULLPEN

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

MONDAY

1130 HRS

"Well…that went well…" As Animal headed out to the bullpen, he was accosted by YN2 Coates and the officers waiting for him. "Everything went swimmingly." He said to Jen who saw right through that.

"I see you're coming out with your head intact, sir?" Jen stated.

"Naw…Yeoman 2, it takes more than an angry SEAL to frighten off this ol' aviator, not after experiencing a 'turn in the barrel' or two."(what an aviator goes through during night traps during pitch black no moon nights or during a storm, when he can't seem to get aboard no matter what he tries and only ends when he is near bingo fuel and having a serious case of the chickenshits). Animal replied to Jen who just looked confused at that turn of phrase. Harm figured that since Jen was going to be hanging around aviators a lot at Pax River, that she would end up having to learn about the terminology. Mac looked pretty sour continually gazing daggers at Meg who was standing close to Harm. "Those captain's stripes suit you just fine, Harm." Animal grinned.

"Well, thank you, sir."

"No, thank you…" Animal said grinning evilly. "Besides, you're the only aviator I know in JAG that I could possibly poach off AJ's staff." And turning to Jen, "And considering that everyone around here thinks you're an absolutely outstanding yeoman. Why not pick and choose the best staff that I can get."

"I don't know what…Colonel Mackenzie, but it certainly feels like we've just been insulted." Meg smirked at Mac who wasn't sure what to make of Animal's statement.

"I think what the fine admiral here is meaning to say…" Harm grinned. "…is that you two are indispensable to JAG."

Mac and Meg looked at each other and said in unison. "SUCK-UP!" Animal snickered. This was evidently a temporary truce between the two women but he figured that it wouldn't last long past the end of the day.

"Think Admiral Chegwidden will go berserk if you played hooky for half an hour? Lunch is in half an hour anyways." Animal said to Meg and Liandra?

"I don't know about Admiral Chegwidden," Lia said, "But Admiral Morris might."

"I outrank RDML (lower half) Morris, by one stripe. My dear." Animal replied looking at Lia with a sly grin. "I'm sure he'll understand that a superior requested your attendance."

"You're just bad." Lia smirked at him.

"I know. I'm an aviator. We aviators are all bad seeds." Animal said.

"Speak for yourself." Harm replied. Animal just grinned back at him. Meg and Lia just rolled their eyes.

Lia looked over at Mac. "So…" she raised her eyebrow in question.

"I've got Imes cases to look over. I'll take my lunch late." Mac said. "I'll see you four later."

Harm took his civilian clothes which were in the new garment bag and put them in his car. Then the four left in one vehicle to go find a place to eat.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

MONDAY

1245 HRS

Mac looked up from her files to see RADM AJ Chegwidden looking down at her. "Can you tell me, Lieutenant Colonel, just what transpired today?"

"Asides from Harmon Rabb Jr, getting a promotion to O-6 and bolting for Pax River? Sir?" Mac asked.

"Because I feel like I got my pockets picked and my head is still spinning as to what the goddamned hell just happened." AJ muttered. "Walk with me, LCOL Mackenzie. We're going to take a lunch. Get Harriet, she hasn't eaten either since this morning. Evidently her appetite has gone south too."

"Yes, sir." Mac said as she grabbed her overcoat and garrison cap from the top of her filing cabinet as she made an effort to gather herself together so that she could accompany Admiral Chegwidden to lunch. Running into Harriet on the way out, they mentioned that they wished her attendance as well. Harriet joined them.

MARK'S DUCK HOUSE

WASHINGTON STREET

FALLS CHURCH, VA

MONDAY

1315 HRS

When they were settled at the restaurant and had ordered, RADM Chegwidden looked at Mac. "Anybody know if Admiral Nakamura has done picking JAG clean?"

"Well, all we know is that no-one else other than Captain Rabb and Yeoman Coates were selected to go to Patuxent River, sir." Harriet responded. "No-one else."

"It seems, RADM Nakamura was looking for specific skill-sets in the people he took." Mac said quietly.

"You are my Chief of Staff, Colonel Mackenzie." RADM Chegwidden replied. "Quietly make a survey to see if anyone else approaches my staff. I don't want my command to be a breeding ground for other commands to see if they can high-tail off with my staff."

"Yes, sir."

As they ate, they discussed damage control strategy. "Y'know, Colonel, Lieutenant, I've been a bear these past few months, the whole Rabb incident notwithstanding. I'd like to take this time to apologize to you two because you two and Rabb have been bearing the brunt of my anger."

"Sir?" both Harriet and Mac questioned.

"I guess it's pretty much becoming clear that this year is my last year in command and I've been thinking about retirement. The whole process…of separation from the service…" AJ picked up another BBQ Pork slice and took a bite of it. "…isn't without its share of grief. And I guess I've been going through the grief process a bit." He admitted. "There's a lot of anger and disappointment that I probably won't be up for my third star after a damned good and decorated career and it has been most unfortunate and unwarranted that I have taken my frustrations out on my staff. After all, nine and a half years as Judge Advocate General; that's a pretty good run." AJ said. "Most COs get three at the most. So I've had triple the office duration that I would normally have had. And it's time to throw the hat in and try something else for a change. I will be staying until May 21st, 2004, and then I will be retiring to take my chances with something else in civilian life."

Harriet and Mac looked at each other in shock. This was unexpected and frankly worrisome. With RADM AJ Chegwidden now declaring unofficially to the two of them, that he was planning on retiring, there would be no steady hand at the helm.

"Well, we can only wish you the best. Sir." Harriet said.

AJ smiled at the both of them, a rare sight these past six months. "Just keep a lid on it for the time being. I will announce it to the staff when I'm ready to do so." He stated.

When they returned from lunch, Meg was already back in her office hard at work. Mac resisted the urge to sabotage Meg's work by disrupting her emotional equilibrium – it would have been too apparent of a ploy - and headed for her own office. The thought of making life hell for Meg was appealing considering the fact that Commander Austin had stolen Harm right out from under her. Yes, Mac was likely to explode when reliving the memory of how Meg had kissed Harm directly on the lips when Admiral Nakamura had mentioned that PDA regulations were suspended. Damn him. He knew exactly what he was doing and encouraged Meg to do so with that smarmy statement and showy staring at his watch. Mac could barely concentrate on her files and the trudging through those cases was hard-slogging work but she realized the alternative, tearing out her hair, wasn't going to get her anywhere either. The hours went by quickly as she could barely manage to get her concentration under control and she knew that it was going to be another long night with the file box.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

MONDAY

1715 HRS

Commander Nakamura knocked on Mac's door. "Working late again tonight, Mac?"

"Yes." Mac replied shortly. "I need to get at least twenty of these folders done by the end of tonight before I head home."

"Well, don't be too long with it. You got court with me presiding tomorrow. The Jenkins case…" Lia said. "See you in the courtroom 0930 sharp." She said as she closed the door and headed out of the JAG office to the waiting car.

"Damn!" Mac grumbled thinking that she needed to make sure that her prosecution case was all ready for court the next day as well. 'Damn Harmon Rabb Jr. and damn Meg Austin!' she thought to herself as she tried to bash through a few more cases.

'Speak of the devil and who should appear'… Mac thought as the door opened and Meg peered in. She had her combo officer's cap on as well as her overcoat and she said. "Well…I'm off. Got to get home, prep a few cases and be ready for court tomorrow too. Admiral Morris this time…"

"Good luck." Mac said shortly. 'Hmmm, maybe she's staying at home to go over her cases. I'll go ask Harm to give me a hand.'

HARM'S APARTMENT

NORTH OF UNION STATION

WASHINGTON DC

MONDAY NIGHT

1845 HRS

Mac pulled up at Harm's Apartment building and went up the rickety elevator. Knocking on the door three times elicited no answer. She shrugged her shoulders. So much for that idea. Sighing vehemently, she headed back downstairs to get back in her car and head on a lonely trip back home.

GRACE AVIATION

BLACKSBURG VA

MONDAY NIGHT

2005 HRS

Harm pulled up into the hangar area just as Mattie was closing up shop. "Thought you weren't coming back." Mattie said rather bitterly as Harm walked into the hangar. "Thought you were going back into the Navy."

"Yes, that's true, Mattie." Harm said. "But the one thing is, that you're underage and it's only a matter of time before Child Protective Services finds out about this operation."

"You the one that's gonna tell 'em?" Mattie asked sharply ever vigilant for the betrayal.

"No, Mattie, I'm not going to tell them. But what I am going to do is I'm going to petition the State of Virginia to become your guardian." Harm stated as he looked at Mattie.

"You don't have to do that. You can back out if you want, I'm not going to hold it against you." Mattie said worriedly.

"I made a promise, Mattie, and I intend to keep it." Harm replied, decision already made up in his mind. "And since I'm going to be in Pax River, I'm going to come up every weekend to Blacksburg to come see you and make sure that everything is OK. Remember, Mattie, once a week at the very least."

"Bring pizza if you're coming." Mattie riposted.

Harm grinned at her. "Yeah…I'll do that." And held out his arms opened wide.

Mattie, tough girl that she was, having to show more maturity and resilience than any fourteen year old should ever have to for so long of a time, melted into his arms as she realized just how fortunate that she had met Harm.

"I gotta go…" Harm said as he released her from his arms after a long hug. "I gotta head for Patuxent River and it's a five and a half hour drive from here."

"OK, Harm. I'll see you later." Mattie replied.


	9. My Cup Runneth Over

Monday Morning

NAS Patuxent River

0830 HRS

"Good morning, Chief." LN2 Jennifer Coates smiled as she handed the two sheets of paper (her transfer orders) to Chief Yeoman Leon Miguel Trebalos.

"Ah…" Chief Yeoman Trebalos grinned personably. "So…you're going to be Captain Rabb's new Legalman now. Captain Rabb reported in about an hour ago." He gave the papers to a YN2 to process and then proceeded to show LN2 Coates to Captain Rabb's office.

"…and Rear Admiral Nakamura?" Jen thought to ask as they walked towards Harm's office. "Is he in as well?"

"You bet, he's usually one of the first to be on base." YNC Trebalos replied. "I don't know how he does it, but he lives close to Falls Church so his _esposa _can make it to work at the Judge Advocate on time. Takes him an hour forty five to make it here. But he's always the first on base. Surprises me every single time." By the end of that sentence, the two had reached Captain Harmon Rabb's office and Trebalos took his leave.

Pounding the pine, Jen braced herself as she waited for Captain Rabb's response.

"Come in." He looked up from his paperwork. "Good morning, Legalman Coates." He grinned "Good to see you." as Jen stepped in walked to a spot three paces in front of his desk and braced to the position of attention. "At ease, Legalman. So…what can I do for you?" he asked.

"Well, according to the Chief, he stated that I'm your new Legalman so that's why I'm here, sir." Jen replied biting back a grin.

"Yes, considering the duties here, evidently Admiral Nakamura figured that you'd be a great asset to my staff" Harm grinned back openly. "Evidently…" he said looking at his sheaf of paper, "…you're my only staff."

"Glad to be of service, sir." Jen said cheekily.

"So how are you finding things here, Jen?" He asked.

"I just got here, sir, but already, it seems like its so much more relaxed around here. I don't feel the tension that we did over at JAG HQ." Jen visibly relaxed as she looked around the office. "You were gone for a long time, sir, but it seemed like there was a feeling of unease around the office. You never knew where you stood. Here, it's not like that and I can sense that already, sir."

"So you're feeling relaxed now, just like I am." Harm said. "This was a good move then, for both of us."

"I do feel sorry for Commander Austin, though." Jen replied.

"Commander Austin will be able to stand her ground." Harm said.

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

0900 HRS

Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie braced herself as she stared at the two court room doors in front of her before she pushed one open and headed inside. Evidently Commander Liandra Gracen-Nakamura was going to be on the bench this morning and she wasn't going to be given any amount of leeway for shenanigans. Rating the toughness of either RDML Morris or CDR Nakamura on the bench, she'd rate Morris before the no-nonsense CDR Nakamura as the judge she'd prefer to face. Commander Nakamura's personable demeanor belied her on-bench toughness.

Moving to the defence desk, Mac met up with her client, Commander Shane Dempster accused of running the DDG 72 – USS Mahan aground – then she looked over as the door opened again to allow the prosecution counsel to enter the court-room – her jaw dropping open at who it was that was going to be opposing her in the courtroom. She looked up to see a nicely coiffed and dress blues wearing Commander Austin.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie." Meg grinned. "I see you're defense counsel today."

From there on in, Mac's day thoroughly went in the crapper. Since this was a jury trial, the jury was there to listen to opening arguments. Her opening statement was thoroughly refuted by Commander Austin in her opening argument. Damn the fact that Commander Dempster was not attentive to the narrow channel in Hampton Roads. He had run his ship aground in the channel not more than 500 yards from the mooring at Norfolk Naval Station. But she was supposed to defend CDR Dempster to the best of her ability. Lia wasn't having any of it and proceeded instead of going to recess, directly into the trial phase. Could she hang the trial for prejudice against her client? But that would definitely put her in the bad books of CDR Nakamura. The only person in the entire courtroom that seemed to think that he had a feasible defence was Commander Dempster who seemed to feel that the tugs in the area of his passage were a hindrance to his departure from Hampton Roads.

"Were there any tugs in the area of your departure from Hampton Roads? Commander." Mac asked Commander Dempster.

"Yes, there was." Commander Dempster replied. "One actually crossed my bow at a distance of no more than 50 meters prior to my passage along the same course of route."

"And you weren't supposed to slow down for traffic in the area of passage?"

"Ma'am. We were supposed to slow down, but only to allow tugs to get clear, not allow them to impede our passage." Commander Dempster responded.

"And you allowed the tug to proceed without caution?"

"No, ma'am, we informed the tug captain that he had just intersected our bow and that we were transiting Hampton Roads enroute to Chesapeake Bay. His response was no acknowledgement. It was when we were crossing 500m south west of the Hampton Roads Bridge, that three other tugs went past our bow. I had the helmsman do a hard right to port to avoid a collision with the tailing tug."

"Commander, what was your speed?"

"13 knots, ma'am."

"That's all." Mac told the bench.

"Redirect. Your Honor" Commander Austin was like a shark smelling blood in the water. "You say you were going 13 knots, is this correct?"

"Yes, ma'am. It is." Commander Dempster acknowledged Commander Austin's question.

"So that means that in order to not have seen the tug in question that nearly bisected your bow, you had to have had your attention diverted from what it was that was supposed to be your primary focus at this point."

Dempster looked confused at the sudden change.

"Objection, Your Honor," Mac stated. "Counsel is argumentative, Speculation".

Lia said. "overruled. The defendant opened up that line of questioning when he mentioned his actions previous with the three tugs. But note to prosecution counsel. Get to where you're going with this quickly or I will disallow this line of questioning." The glare from the bench was palpable. Commander Nakamura was not going to allow Mac to establish any form of defense – at least that's what it looked like from Mac's viewpoint.

"Addressing the bench with regards to Exhibit A…" Meg said triumphantly, "This is a radar cross-section print out of the tugs in the area of Hampton Roads at the time that Commander Dempster stated were in the area at the time of the USS Mahan's passage through Hampton Roads. At no time were there three tugs in the vicinity of his destroyer. Would you like to recant that testimony, Commander or would you like to add perjury to your list of charges?"

Mac glared daggers at both Meg and at Commander Dempster. She was being made an utter fool for even defending Commander Dempster. "Defense Counsel would like to address the bench." Mac said. "Defence Counsel rests!" Screw inadequate defense, if the defendant was going to boldfaced lie to her in open court, then the defendant could take his chances with alternate counsel.

NAS Patuxent River

COMNAVAIRSYS JAG

1045HRS

"So, Jen, our duties are primarily assessing the legal paperwork with regards to new operations systems and weapons systems procedure parameters as well as contractor legal paperwork." Harm grinned.

"Wow, sir…" Jen grinned back, "That sounds like fun. Are you sure you wouldn't be happier at JAG HQ dealing with murder cases than doing what amounts to paperwork?" she said rolling her eyes to indicate that she too was much happier here than there.

"Oh…hell no! I can smell av-gas here and that makes me the happiest guy in the world even if I can't play with the airplanes." Harm replied.

"Maybe if you ask nicely, he will…" Animal snickered as he poked his head in the open door. "Acclimating here OK? Jen?" Animal had on a flight-suit. "Care to go on a familiarization flight? That way you can get an idea of how big Pax River is from up above."

"Asking or offering, Admiral?" Harm grinned widely as he got up out of his desk.

"Sometimes we have to go up to test systems and that's part of the fun of this job. Our test-pilots have limited hours to test stuff thanks to fiscal budget and that sometimes means bending the rules a bit. Yeah, I get my flight hours this way." Animal grinned. "VADM Hadfield keeps up his hours too. Grab some flight gear at the goat-locker and meet me on the tarmac. We're gonna go take a SuperBug up; give it some exercise." He tossed back over his shoulder as he headed off.

Harm looked over at Jen with a chow-eating grin on his face and said. "Damn…I love this job!"

Jen gave him a mock-sour look as she headed over to her desk and said. "Hmmph…abandoned again! See you when you get back, sir." Harm knew her disgruntlement was only for show as she gave him another beaming smile.

Tarmac

NAS Patuxent River

1120 HRS

"So…" Animal said as the two of them held their flight helmets in their hands walking out to the F/A-18F Super Hornet. "This is just an orbit around a couple times around the field and showing you where the range is." His voice was interrupted by the drone of turboprops as a P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft took off. Looking up into the sky to see nothing but blue, Harm grinned back at the admiral who was striding out to the Super Hornet with confidence. For all the times he had known the admiral, Harm knew that Animal had the utmost of confidence in his own abilities as a naval aviator. He was one of the best and he knew it. "You checked out in the Super Hornet, yet?"

"Not entirely, sir." Harm replied.

"Well…one of your duties is to get yourself checked out and certified on it. I'll make the hours available." Animal replied.

"Gee, Admiral, O-6 commission, transfer to an office that feels like home, being able to sniff av-gas till my eyes cross and now being told to get checked out on a F/A-18 Super Hornet and be able to fly…" Harm grinned a silly little grin, rolled his eyes skywards in benediction. "My cup runneth over." He finished looking like a kid in a candy store.

"Any chance I get to stick it to AJ, the better." Animal replied as he thought over how bombastic the SEAL was getting.

The two quietly did a pre-flight check and then mounted up. Animal, in the front, Harm in the back. Preflight checks and Prestart checks completed, Animal started the twin turbojets and a whine filled the cockpit. Lowering the canopy all they could hear was the pressurization air flow. "Salty Dog 121, Pax Tower. Taxi Runway One-Four Departure and orbit field then departure to range one." The plane captain lifted a thumbs up as the F/A-18F trundled forwards towards the taxiway.

"Salty Dog One Two One, you have runway One Four and clearance to line up and depart. Have a good flight."

"Roger that, Pax Tower." As Animal nosed his F/A-18F and lined up with the runway centerline, he applied brakes and then smoothly jammed the throttles full-forward. Harm could feel the power emanating from the two F414-GE400s as Animal put the F/A-18F into full military power, then Animal uttered. "Going to max reheat" as he jammed the throttles into afterburner. Releasing the brakes as the Super Hornet bucked like a caged wild thing, the Super Hornet punched forward, the forward force jamming Harm against the ejection seat. Halfway down the runway, Animal pulled the stick back as the F/A-18F leapt off the runway. Pulling nose up, the F/A-18F went into the vertical and Animal, grinning all the while, rolled the Super Hornet.

Seeing the sky spinning, Harm grunted to keep the oxygen flowing to his brains; he remembered the last time he had flown with Animal. Animal was insane when it came to putting the Tomcat (then) and now the Hornet through its paces. But that was to be expected. Animal was a combat aviator with four kills to his record – two over Iraq, two over Korea, just one short of being an ace.

"Seen your breakfast yet, Harm?" Animal placidly asked.

"No, sir." Harm said. "And I really wouldn't want to make a reacquaintance with it." By now, they were at Angels 30 and Animal rolled over the top inverted and flipped the Super Hornet upright.

NAS Patuxent River

Vice-Admiral Hadfield's Office

1150 HRS

"So, Legalman Coates. Do you have an idea where Captain Rabb has gone to?" VADM Hadfield asked the question as he looked out the window to see an F/A-18F Super Hornet blow past the airfield at just under 700mph crossing the intersecting runways before going nose-up and blowing a plume of dirt across the airfield as it lit afterburner and went vertical.

"Sir. I believe RADM Nakamura said something about a familiarization flight." Jen replied innocently.

He lifted a thumb towards the offending F/A-18F, all that remained was the twinkling lights of the two F414-GE400s as the F/A-18F blew past Angels 15 and said sardonically. "I trust that was them: Nakamura and Rabb." Tempering the glower with an ironic wink.

"I would have no clue, sir. All they said was they were in a Super Hornet, sir." Coates grinned back.

VADM Hadfield looked calmly in the mirror to the side of the door…and muttered a pungent oath. "That's another gray hair," he muttered to himself, though audible to Jen. "Well, at least they're having fun." He muttered. "Jen, would you do me a favor and let them know that I need the latest update on the Short Range Air to Air Missile. It's supposed to be in Phase II right now so I need to ask them for a report. I have to report next Monday to the Joint Services Acquisitions Sub-Committee on the progress of the project."

"Will do, sir." Jen replied and was dismissed by the vice-admiral.

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

1200 HRS

Commander Austin and Commander Nakamura were headed out the door to lunch when Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie stopped them. "You never told me about that radar cross-section of Hampton Roads, Commander Austin. Was that something you were planning on keeping to yourself?" Mac said venomously. Commander Nakamura raised an eyebrow as she looked questioningly at both Mac and Meg.

Meg stood face-to face staring down the tip of her nose at Mac. "I'd suggest, Lieutenant Colonel, that you take another look at your case folder. I personally handed you a copy of that information just a few days ago."

Mac took a look at the folder that she was holding thinking that she had Meg pinned down under failure to provide evidence to the defense and then was rudely surprised when she found a copy of Meg's evidence nestled in her own folder just as Meg had stated it would be.

"well…I see you found it." Meg said, resisting the urge to add that little tone of snark to her comment. "Now Commander Nakamura and I were heading off to grab a bite to eat. Would you care to come have some lunch?"

"I'll pass." Mac said sourly. "I have an enormous amount of paperwork to catch up on." _That bitch!_ Mac thought to herself as she turned around and headed back towards her office.

"She doesn't like you much, does she?" Lia asked Meg.

"Not really." Meg replied. "Doesn't bother me though." She said airily as the two continued through the office as they headed off to get something to eat, "Wonder what the boys are doing?" She said to Lia.

"Oh, I'm sure they're having fun." Lia replied knowing that Meg was referring to Harm and Animal."

NAS Patuxent River

1200 HRS

The subjects of Meg's and Lia's contemplations were in the process of having the most fun they could have in a fighter. "Woohoo!" Harm and Animal crowed as Animal rolled the Super Hornet along its axis from nose to tail along their direction of flight down Runway 24/6. "How do you keep from getting busted for doing this?" Harm asked.

"The Vice-Admiral doesn't care. He does this kind of thing on weekdays too." Animal replied. Looking at his Breitling timepiece, the timepiece that Lia had given him for his 40th birthday, Animal said, "Well, looks like we'd better get this baby home to Mama."

"Rats." Harm replied.

"Yeah, VX-23's CO won't let me take it out for playtime any more if I don't." Animal replied.

1215 HRS

Animal executed a perfect three-point landing as he greased the Super Hornet in on Runway 32/14 and taxied her to the tarmac outside the VX-23 Salty Dogs hangar. The CO was there to meet them.

"Welcome back, sir. How was she? Admiral." Commander David Renquist grinned at the two.

"Flew like a charm, Commander." Animal responded. Introducing Harm to Commander David Renquist. "This is Captain Harmon Rabb, one of my protégés from East Coast RAG."

"Didn't know that, sir. How do you do, Captain Rabb."

"Pleasure. Commander." Harm extended a hand in response. "She flew like a beauty today."

"I should hope so, sir. We got the best wrenches in the Navy, sir and on top of that, you were flying with the best stick in the Navy too, sir." Renquist said looking over at Animal.

"Oh…quit brown-nosing, Renquist." Animal chided him jokingly. "I just make sure that I don't bend the aircraft…or the CNO will tell me to quit flying."

As soon as they were showered off, dressed back in khakis and headed back to their respective offices, Jen waylaid Harm as he came back, "Sir, VADM Hadfield wanted both you and Admiral Nakamura in his office. He was saying something about needing the reports in for SRAAM testing. He has a Joint Services Acquisition Subcommittee meeting next Monday and he needs the reports for then. Something about a Phase II on the program?"

"OK…will do that. I'll round up Admiral Nakamura and we'll head for VADM Hadfield's office."

VADM Hadfield's Office

NAS Patuxent River

1245 HRS

"So…you two quit playing hookey and came back to work?" VADM Hadfield muttered, tempering his mock-annoyance with a grin. "Maybe I should go fly something too. So Admiral, how's Phase II going on the SRAAM project?"

"Looks like they're doing final guidance tests later on this week and we should have a report the day after." Animal replied. 

"Later this week? Specify what date we're looking at!" Hadfield said. "I want to see something concrete by Thursday so that I can plan what I'm going to snowball the Joint Services Subcommittee with."

"Will do, Admiral." Animal replied. "Harm will draw up the particulars on the project requirements, how much more flying hours we're going to be utilizing for the remainder of Phase II, Phase III and Phase IV and then into operational testing, there's going to be carrier tests, seeing how the guidance systems take the shock of carrier landings; all that is primarily in Phase IV and operational testing. Over all the testing is going well and we should be into Phase III by the end of this month." 

"Good thing, I thought I was going to end up catching a tiger by the tail on this, Animal. Good work. So Captain Rabb, what did you think of the familiarization flight over Pax River, before this yahoo" indicating Animal with a thumb "here started relocating the dust bunnies from one side of the airfield to the other." Both Animal and VADM Hadfield snickered as VADM Hadfield said this with a sardonic grin at the other admiral.

"It was great. I didn't realize that COMNAVAIRSYS JAG was a flying position here." Harm replied.

"We need everyone that we have with wings here to test the systems that we have to work on. You so that you can write formulative assessments on what we need in terms of funds from the committee and legal operational parameters from the Judge Advocate General based on experience with the projects that we have." VADM Hadfield said. "So yes, Captain Rabb, you've lucked out…and you have Admiral Nakamura here to thank for that. He mentioned that you were an ex-fighter pilot with thousands of hours on the Tomcat and a few DFCs and thus you were the primary candidate." VADM Hadfield leaned forward extending a hand to shake Harm's and said. "Welcome aboard, Captain Rabb. Animal has told me that you are going to be getting checked out in the F/A-18F Super Hornet and you'll be helping out with testing the systems on our air to air/air to ground weaponry. We need that so the sooner you get yourself checked out on the Super Hornet, the sooner you can get up to speed as COMNAVAIRSYS JAG."

"Thank you sir." Harm said absolutely feeling like he was the cat that ended up in a bowl of cream. The best possible job in the world, he thought to himself as he exited the vice-admiral's office and headed back to his own.


	10. Threats

To all my readers: Thanks for reading and reviewing…and to the readers like "williams keeper" and "byrhthelm" for keeping me on track. It's great to know that people are reading and enjoying this. So thanks and please keep reviewing – it helps my muse stay active.

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

1300 HRS Same Day

Mac opened the door of her office as Meg hurried the bullpen past loaded down with a briefcase and files. "Commander, may I have a moment with you." She hailed Meg.

"Not now, Colonel, I have to get to court. RDML Morris is going to have my six if I'm late for his courtroom." Meg said irritably as she blew past Mac enroute to the courtrooms.

"Two court cases in one day?" Mac turned around to look at Commander Sturgis Turner as Meg flew through the swinging twin doors.

"Evidently, Commander Austin is extremely busy. The Admiral is leaning on her to carry the load that Commander, excuse me, Captain Rabb formerly accomplished while he was here." Sturgis raised his eyebrows. "And if I surmise correctly, she's very efficient."

"Efficient…" Mac snorted derisively. "Sounds like she's in over her head considering that she's running late for her court case." That fact that it only took two and a half hours for Commander Austin to pick apart her case that morning still was eating at her. And she did it so easily too; that really stung.

"Is there a reason why you two are chattering like a group of old hens, Commander Turner, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie?" The two turned to see crossed arms sporting gold braid…eyes following further up the torso saw a raised eyebrow and a stone-like glare emanating from a very pissed off Rear Admiral upper half Albert Jethro Chegwidden. "I believe the two of you have work to accomplish? Namely some cases of Imes?! Because if you feel you don't have enough to do, I can certainly hook you up with a few more trial cases."

"No, sir." The two properly chastened snapped to.

"Then get back to work!" Admiral Chegwidden had to just put a little snarl into his growl and both Marine Lieutenant Colonel and former Navy bubblehead three-striper made themselves very scarce. Disappeared into the ether would have been a good term for it as to how quickly they vanished into their respective offices. As he heard the doors click, Admiral Chegwidden smiled a tight grin. There was something to be said about keeping his subordinates on their toes. If there was one thing that Admiral Chegwidden noticed, it was the animosity between Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie and Commander Meg Austin. And since Commander Austin had Captain Rabb now and was openly dating him, the animosity had flared up into open condescension. If Admiral Chegwidden heard any more disparagement coming from Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, he would put a stop to it. Commander Austin was a capable officer and could hold her own in pitched verbal battles; however it was his duty as commanding officer of the Judge Advocate General's office to ensure that it didn't get to that point.

About 2 and a half hours later, Meg came striding back into the office. Lieutenant Bud Roberts looked up inquisitively. Meg shot him a big grin and gave him a 'thumbs up'.

"Congratulations, Commander. You beat Commander Mattoni?"

Meg nodded as she headed back towards her office just as Mac came out of the office again. "So…Commander, are you busy still?" the condescension in her voice was palpable to any onlooker. Meg turned around abruptly after dropping her files on the desk and putting her briefcase on the floor beside it, then stepped three quick steps to place her nose to nose with the Lieutenant Colonel.

"As a matter of fact, I am…" Commander Austin said. "Lieutenant Colonel. Inside. Shut the door!" She snapped as Mac bristled, but shut the door as ordered. "Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, I have no idea what your problem with me is, nor do I really care. Yes you have seniority over me by a couple of years, but I have no doubt that I can make an Article 133 charge stick. Would you care to test those waters?"

"No, Commander." Mac said, raging inside as Meg stalked around Mac in a circle like a predator circling prey. Normally this was Mac's domain and she was uncomfortable with the sudden about-face of circumstance.

"I choose to not acknowledge your pointed barbs because I know that you can't resist throwing them." Meg snarled eyeball to eyeball with Mac and Mac knew uncomfortably that Meg was taller than her by several inches. "However I tire of the constant barb flinging and will charge you with a violation of Article 133 if you keep this up. And rest assured, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, that I can and will make sure that you never, ever get another promotion again. There are people in higher positions than I that can make your career path very uncomfortable. Am I making myself clear?" Mac looked eyeball to eyeball with Meg and saw a pair of very cold ice-like eyeballs staring back at her. "I'm warning you, Colonel, test my patience one more time and things will become very uncomfortable." Considering one of Meg's contacts had the ear of Marine generals and Navy admirals, Meg was definitely telling the truth when she said this though Mac didn't know this.

"You can't threaten me…" Mac stuttered. "I can level an Article 89 against you."

"That's where you're wrong, _Lieutenant_ Colonel." Meg stated coldly emphasizing the lieutenant part of the rank. "You have seniority by virtue of time in rank. You, however, are not my superior officer. Be aware of that. Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie."

The look on Mac's face was priceless, her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out.

"Dismissed, Lieutenant Colonel." Meg said dismissively. "Shut the door on your way out." Mac abruptly turned around left the door, barely resisting the urge to slam the door shut on her way out. Meg smiled to herself – she thought she saw a nuclear mushroom cloud going up over Sarah Mackenzie's head.

'That bitch' Mac thought to herself as she stomped back to her office. 'That bitch was right' Mac knew for a fact that she was treading on thin ice by continuing to be malicious towards Commander Austin, however the fact that Commander Austin had taken her Harm away from Mac ate like steadily dripping battery acid in her craw.

That Afternoon

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

1730 HRS

Meg was sitting at her desk working on another case when the phone rang. "Commander Austin" she said as she picked up the phone putting it to her ear. "What can I do for you?"

"Hey, Meg…sweetheart." She smiled to herself upon hearing a certain 6'4" tall aviator's voice.

"Hey, yourself. Sweetie." She replied as she made a few more notations on the case file. "So what's happening in your neck of the woods?"

"I got to play with an airplane – a Super Hornet." Harm's voice was teasing.

"Oh…" Meg said. "…and…"

"Animal took me up for a familiarization flight. So while he and I relocated dust bunnies from one end of the airfield to the other…according to Vice-Admiral Hadfield, I was missing you tremendously."

"Oh…is that so?" Meg teased him back. "Even while you were occupied by flying…"

"Yes…missed those blonde locks of yours, your beautiful blue eyes and your luscious lips…y'know…" Harm's voice had a very bantering tone to it but nestled in there was something very wistful too which Meg thought was endearing as he suddenly said. "I miss you…"

"So…sailor…care to come over and show me just how much you miss me?" Meg shot back cheerily.

"Think you could handle it?"

"I've handled bucking broncos…flyboy…" Meg retorted and knowing that this would potentially lead to a lot more, said. "I'm getting off around 1930hrs… care to meet me at home?" A knock on the door caused Meg to say "Hold on a minute, Harm."

Commander Liandra Nakamura leaned her head in. "Hey, I'm on my way out, Meg. See you tomorrow. Gotta go home and feed Rear Admiral Hungry." Noticing Meg had a receiver in her hand. "Say hi to Harm for me…" Lia winked knowingly acknowledging Meg's 'oh stop!' smile, quickly shutting the door with an outrageous thumbsup…and a "go get'im tiger."

"Oooh…Lia's incorrigible." Meg muttered barely holding back a laugh.

"Animal and Lia are great for each other…" Harm replied, a laugh apparent in his voice.

Lia and Meg were friends outside the courtroom but in the courtroom, it was strictly business as usual. Lia ruled by letter of the law and it didn't matter who was in the courtroom. She wouldn't hesitate to rule against Meg if Meg's argument did not stand up in court on its own merits and Meg would have to deal with that ruling without complaint. And that was the reason why RADM Chegwidden had no problems with one of his judiciary staff mingling with his attorneys. If there was any inkling of favoritism or skewed rulings, there would be definite problems to address, but as it stood, Commander Nakamura did not let "friendships" get in the way of dealing out justice. She was a friend of Harm's as well, but Harm had lost track of the number of times that when he was in the courtroom, that he had gotten strips taken off his hide for doing something stupid in the courtroom when Commander Nakamura was on the bench. No nonsense meant exactly that and that was Commander Nakamura to a tee when she was judging a case and Harm had to thank his lucky stars that Lia wasn't on the bench when he did that stupid think with the Heckler & Koch or he'd have had his stripes yanked, busted down to 0-1 and be the first ensign in the history of the Navy to get permanent latrine duty rather than the punishment he had gotten from RADM AJ Chegwidden and RDML (then Captain) Stiles Morris. And Chegwidden would have backed Lia up too on the punishment.

There had been one complaint, Harm recalled, by the late Lieutenant Loren Singer based on how Commander Nakamura had ruled on a case between Harm and Singer. The opportunistic Lieutenant Singer had seen Harm talking to Commander Nakamura outside the courtroom and had promptly proceeded to accuse Commander Nakamura of impropriety and bias based on her decision based on her familiarity with Harm despite the fact that Harm was just asking about a court decision and clarification on a ruling. All things considered, the whole case was examined by RADM Chegwidden, and Lieutenant Singer was hauled on the carpet in RADM Chegwidden's office. Needless to say, Lieutenant Singer came out of that office pasty white. Commander Rabb and Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie had sworn the walls had vibrated outside Chegwidden's office. There was nothing wrong with the ruling, it was determined to be found and Commander Nakamura had been found to be a little on the lenient side in regards to her ruling which was for the defendant whom Singer was actually defense counsel. She could have thrown the book at the defendant and chose not to do so based on extenuating circumstances; so considering the nature of her accusation, Lieutenant Singer had to consider herself lucky that she sidestepped a potential landmine to her own career. False accusation against a superior officer carried a charge of a potential court-martial and Article 107 which was thoroughly drummed into Lieutenant Singer's mind by an absolutely enraged Rear Admiral Chegwidden and she was told in no uncertain terms in a stentorian volume to "be absolutely goddamned sure that your case doesn't have such gaping holes in it that you could drive a truck through before you start accusing superior officers of wrongdoing. Or By God, Lieutenant Singer, I will sink your goddamned career! DISMISSED!"

Mac's Office

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

1930 HRS

Mac again was sitting at her desk when she saw a tall person go by in civilian clothes wearing a "visitor" badge. It was Harm. It was all that she could do to not get up, go out and greet him, when she saw him enfold his arms around Commander Austin and give her a passionate kiss. It was only when she realized she was bending her pen to the shape of an L by sheer force in aggravation did she stop, just before the breaking point of the pen. Losing a case to the erstwhile blonde Commander, being dressed down by the same Commander Austin and called out on her behaviour was not doing her anything for her mood and if her day hadn't gone into the crapper by noon-time, it had thoroughly been flushed down the sewer pipes by now as she saw Harm through the blinds of Commander Austin's office running his hands through Meg's hair.

Mac nearly put her fist through the wall when she heard Meg's throaty voice go "Let's get out of here…Harm…I need you." If Mac's head could have exploded, her brain matter would have created a Rorschach decoration of her office. That fat orange and black striped cartoon cat was right: Mondays did truly suck! Footsteps past her office indicated the outbound direction of both Commander Austin and Harm.

Mac had found out, back when Lieutenant Singer had levelled a baseless charge of impropriety against Commander Nakamura, from the testy and enraged admiral himself that any fallacious and vindictive baseless accusations from now on, would automatically result in an Article 107 UCMJ charge and then would proceed to an Article 32 separation from the service, in essence a dishonorable discharge. So she was warned that she could not potentially do anything to that blonde tart and get away with it. And the admiral was watching. And that frustrated Mac to no end. Commander Austin was running circles around her and she had no recourse against her at all.

She wanted to scream and throw a tantrum in outrage; however that would just bring Marine security over and then the men in the white coats to take her away to a padded cell where she could drool and gibber unintelligibly. How could her life have gone so wrong? She had Harm in the palm of her hand and somehow…that…that thing (in Navy blues)…had managed to take Harm from her. What had she done wrong? She looked back at her past year and she could still find nothing wrong with her own behaviour. She reflected that she had truly lost Harm but what could she do to win him back?

From what she could see, she was absolutely screwed with regards to winning Harm back due to Commander Austin's interference and it made her absolutely livid to see Harm running his hands through that blonde bimbo's hair. It made thoughts of revenge delicious.

Meg's Apartment

#5 522 Seagull Crescent

Reston VA

"Well, we're here…" Meg said as she got out of her car, as Harm parked his car in the second parking space allocated to her apartment suite. Harm grinned as he locked the car door with his remote key fob and proceeded to smother Meg in another passionate embrace and lip lock.

"Hey…" Meg protested, "Can we wait until we get upstairs?"

Harm pondered the location…and the hood of the car for a long moment then turned and grinned at Meg as she turned red with embarrassment at the implication.

"No…Harm!" Meg said archly. "Now let's get upstairs." She ordered.

"Your wish is my command…Aye aye, ma'am." Harm grinned back at her sending heated pools of warmth running through her belly. The elevator didn't seem to move quickly enough.

Grace Aviation

Blacksburg, VA

Mattie Grace poured over the bills. The amounts just didn't seem to add up with the contracts that she was taking in. Maintenance costs on the aircraft, the accounts receivable that hadn't been collected yet. The fact that some of the gas bills for av gas were on the 90 end of the 30/60/90 demand letters didn't help her stress level any. She was late on some of the mechanic's pay and had to ask them to take a little less to enable her to keep the doors open.

The last envelope on the desk sat like a poison pen letter. Addressed from Richmond Virginia, Mattie looked at it with the same trepidation that a mouse looks at a rattlesnake.

Department of Child Protective Services, Richmond, Virginia.

She didn't even realize that her hands had picked up the phone and was dialing Harm's cell-phone number.

Meg's Apartment

#5 522 Seagull Crescent

Reston VA

Harm's cell phone rang…just as Meg and Harm were getting comfortable on Meg's couch intertwined with one another. Harm swore to himself – it had better not be NAS Pax River. Picking up the phone, he heard a tremulous yet familiar voice... "HARM?!"


	11. The Fit Hits The Shan

Meg's Apartment

#5 522 Seagull Crescent

Reston VA

Meg looked quizzically at Harm as he bolted straight upright from his prone position on the couch nearly dislodging Meg who was curled up in his arms. "Mattie, what is it? Are you all right?" The tone of worry in his voice caused Meg to pay attention to what Harm was doing on the phone.

"Is Mattie OK?" Meg asked worriedly only to be answered by a shrug of the shoulders as he listened to Mattie on the other end of the phone.

"No…you stay there… I'm in Reston right now, with Meg… I'll be over there in four hours. I just need to phone my boss…OK? You hang in there, Mattie." Harm said.

As Harm got off the phone, Meg gave Harm a taciturn stare. "I'm going with you." Her tone was final.

"You don't need to…Meg." Harm put up a token protest. "Mattie's my responsibility."

"Harm." Meg argued her point at Harm who had no choice but to retreat. "When we got involved, Mattie became MY responsibility too. Whatever we do, we'll do it together."

"But, you have work tomorrow." Harm replied trying to make Meg see reason.

"And you don't?" Meg retorted caustically. "No…I'm going…that's final!"

"It won't look good on you if you beg off tomorrow citing personal reasons. You don't have as understanding a boss as I do." Harm replied as he dialled Animal's number. The discussion paused for a moment as Harm got the XO on the line. "Sir…yes, I won't be in tomorrow as something personal came up. It involves a child-protection matter." There was a mumbling on the phone line as Animal gave his response. All Meg could hear clearly was the name Mattie…

Harm heard more clearly on the phone line. "You make sure that Mattie is safe. Captain! Take whatever time you need. Those vultures will just shovel her from home to home, whatever is convenient for them not giving a shit about what's good for the child. You go do right for Mattie…Harm and I'll back you to Admiral Hadfield – and he'll understand too."

"Yes, sir." Harm sounded absolutely grateful as he hung up.

The discussion was held over as Meg was on the phone when Harm hung up with Mattie. All he heard was "Yes, sir. I will…you know I'll back Harm to the ends of the earth. Thank you, sir, I'll keep you updated." Harm's jaw hung open as Meg got off the phone looking smugly at him. "Well…that takes care of that." Meg said. "So… shall we get going?" Harm stuttered for a second in response and then shut his mouth as Meg gave him a glare, "The admiral was far more understanding than you gave him credit for."

4 hrs later

Harm pulled his Lexus into the parking lot at Grace Aviation and Meg and Harm both got out. He could see Mattie peering out. Meg retrieved the pizza from the Lexus and brought it with her. Mattie looked at Meg with enquiring eyes. Harm grinned as he looked over at Meg and then back at Mattie. "She's my girlfriend." He said simply.

"Hi, Mattie." Meg said. "I thought you might be hungry so we stopped off to get you something to eat."

That absolutely thawed Mattie's suspicion and she smiled gratefully as she took the pizzas from Meg. "I think I remember you from when you came over here the last time – y'know, the day that Harm had to go pay for the parts. So you're now his girlfriend?"

"Well, it just happened." Meg said, her eyes twinkling with merriment. Mattie put two and two together and a little wicked smile grew on her face.

"Oh, God…I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Mattie said. Harm turned beet red in embarrassment as Meg and Mattie giggled.

"No…" Meg said "…and anyways, this matter was something that you should interrupt us for anyways."

Mattie looked at her. "You know about this matter." She looked at Harm again with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," Harm said. "She is someone very important to me…as are you."

"…and whatever Harm does – including applying for custody for you – will be something that I will support too. If we intend to be a family…we'll do it together." Meg said with absolute finality on the decision she had come to – so much so she surprised herself. "…and that family involves you, Mattie. Harm made a promise to you and I'll back him and you. Harm and I have been working partners together in the past at the place where we worked."

"At that Navy Lawyer's place?" Mattie asked; not only was she getting a guardian, she would be getting a mother too, if Harm and Meg did exactly what Meg said they were planning to do.

"Yes." Meg said. "He's a really good lawyer." She winked at Harm.

"He's a good pilot too." Mattie said.

"Yep. I've seen him fly too." Meg said as she gave Mattie a beaming smile. Mattie liked Meg already – she was open, friendly and funny. "He made a Tomcat do things that I never knew they could do."

"I learned from the best." Harm said acknowledging his Reserve Air Group mentor. "Animal could make the Tomcat do things I could never do, not even in my wildest dreams."

"…including relocating the dust bunnies from one end of the airfield to the other?" Meg said archly.

"That…too." Harm laughed.

Mattie looked at Harm worriedly. "You just went into your job for the first time today. Don't you need to be at work tomorrow?"

"I've got an understanding boss. He said to do right by you and gave me whatever time I needed to get this straightened up. Tomorrow we're going into Richmond and starting the process. And in the interim, I'm going to get a custody order so that I can take care of you while this mess gets sorted out." Meg levelled a glare at Harm that he noticed as he quickly amended the "I" to "…uh…we…that is…" he gestured indicating Meg.

"She's got you trained already, I see." Animal's voice was apparently droll as he, dressed in civilian casual, cavalierly walked into Grace Aviation's office. "The door was already open." He acknowledged the shock and the question of how did he get in.

"Admiral!" Meg said shocked to see Animal there. "You drove all the way from…Fairfax to here?"

"When Rabb here called me, Meg, I needed to make sure that there wasn't anything you three needed so, I told Lia that I was going to be making a drive down to Blacksburg to see Mattie and make sure she was alright. If there's one government agency that pisses me off to no end, it's the Virginia Department of Child Protection. Rabb, Austin, if you need someone to vouch for you at the custody hearing, I'll do so."

"You mean you'd do that?" Mattie asked incredulously. Here were two people other than Harm who barely knew her from a hole in the ground stating that they'd do whatever they could to ensure that Harm got custody of her.

Animal's look towards her was warm, fatherly even. "Of course, Mattie. Harm would make a good father…and Commander Austin here…if anything, would make a terrific mother." He winked at Meg who blushed. "Oh, before I forget, Lia made you some sandwiches." He handed Mattie the paper bag he was holding in his hand. "You've got everything in hand here, Harm?"

"Thank you, Admiral." Mattie said gratefully, "Tell your wife thank you for me."

"I think we do, sir." Harm said gratefully. "Thanks for the time off."

"Oh, hell, Rabb, you owe me. I got to do the report for Vice-Admiral Hadfield now." Animal gave Harm a mock-glare and patted Mattie on the shoulder. "Stay strong, kiddo, you got all of us in your corner." Giving Meg a jaunty two fingered salute tipping his hand to his forehead. "Since Rabb here has everything in hand now, I'm gonna head back to Fairfax. I bid you adieu and good-night."…and headed for the door.

As the door shut behind him, Mattie turned to Harm and said. "You're right." Harm raised his eyebrow questioningly. "He is a nice guy." Remembering the last visit which was all Mattie had known of the erstwhile admiral where he had come to extort Harm into joining NAS Pax River, he remembered the whole conversation they had.

"Yep, somewhere in his ol' crusty flag officer's torso beats a heart of gold." Harm grinned. Knowing Animal would growl "Watch who you're calling crusty." Meg giggled.

Coming to the decision that they would spend the night at Meg's apartment in Reston, Harm, Meg and Mattie piled into the Lexus.

Next morning

NAS Patuxent River

Vice Admiral Hadfield looked over at Rear Admiral Nakamura who was yawning far enough to split his face. "Hey, Animal, you awake there?"

"Yeah, somewhat, sir." Animal barely restrained another yawn as he poured over the keyboard as he was typing up the report for the Joint Services Acquisition Subcommittee.

"Late night?"

"Yep, courtesy of Rabb…" Animal muttered to himself. "Yes, sir. Had to make sure that a child was safe."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, harassment by Virginia Department of Child Protection."

"Oh…" Vice Admiral Hadfield sounded disgusted hearing that. He had three children himself and was absolutely protective of them. He held pretty much the same opinion as Animal that they were vultures quick to snack on unsuspecting families. "That's understandable – Just so long as the report's done by tomorrow, I should be able to manage. I suspect the child-protection issue is the reason why Rabb isn't here today."

"Not a problem, just have some research to do on the necessary particulars." Animal replied.

"Excuse me, ma'am…the admirals are in a meeting…Ma'am…! Your camera crew needs to wait outside." the Marine Lance-Corporal raised his voice, his hand near his sidearm. "You are on a military base, ma'am. You have no jurisdiction over this base!"

"What the hell?" Vice Admiral Hadfield looked up from his desk as Animal stood up from the counter and swore a long blue streak.

"…Shit, It's Congresswoman Latham!" Animal finished as he proceeded to walk over to the Lance Corporal and enquire as to what was going on. "What's going on Lance-Corporal?" His cold eyes looked over at the congresswoman as if she were a maggot that was infesting a wound. "What can I do for you, Congresswoman Latham."

"Well…admiral…" She made the word sound like the lowliest rank in the Navy, even lower than seaman. "I'm here to find out why Pax River has the highest requisition allocation for Navy funds that Congress provides. It should be of public record."

"Well, ma'am…" If the four-letter female diminutive descriptive noun could be more laden with sarcasm, it would collapse on its own weight. "It just so happens that we have a lot of black projects; which appears to be stuff that we cannot tell the ordinary congressman or congresswoman. So unfortunately, we cannot unless given directive from the Joint Chiefs of Staff divulge any black projects at all. All you are privy to is that they exist – nothing more."

"I can find out." Congresswoman Latham blustered looking at Animal as if he were a pile of excrement on the floor that she somehow had to contend with armed only with paper towels and a Swiffer. "And if I have to, your career will end at the rank of Rear Admiral (upper half)."

"Ma'am. I've had bullets try to end my career." Animal's tone of voice turned icy. That's when Bobbi Latham took a second look at Animal's ribbon rack. On the top of the ribbon rack was a blue ribbon, laden with five white stars arranged in the shape of an M standing out starkly from his khaki uniform. "I welcome you to take your best shot." Animal knew damned well that the Joint Chiefs of Staff would take the word of a Medal of Honor recipient over the words of a United States Congressman/woman. "But the needs of the security of this great nation of ours trump the need of the general public to know about what is being done or isn't being done in the name of national defense. So, ma'am…I would suggest that you turn your camera crew off and retire back to the grand Legislatures of the States of Virginia and Washington DC and let the Joint Chiefs of Staff know just what it is that you wish to request. I'm sure that they will find a way to turn your request down based on National Security." The last two words fairly dripped of ice.

"We'll see about that." Congresswoman Latham pursed her lips firmly, whirled around "We're leaving." The camera crew followed in her wake. As the doors closed the staff stood in a rousing ovation. Vice-Admiral Hadfield grinned as he approached, leading the applause.

"Making new friends, I see, Animal." VADM Hadfield stated with a droll grin on his face.

"Oh, always."

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

"I see Commander Austin failed to show up for work today." Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie mentioned to Lieutenant Bud Roberts.

"I'm sure it's a personal matter, ma'am." Lieutenant Roberts replied, nervous as to where this discussion was going.

"I'm glad that she has plenty of time to take off for personal matters, some of us actually have to work here." Mac sniped.

"It just so happened that the personal matter involved the safety of a young child…" a cold voice said behind her back. Mac whirled around to find herself eye to eye with a Budweiser and a Navy Cross. "I'm sure you recognize that takes precedence over her court cases and as her commanding officer, I'm well-aware of that and am fully confident in Commander Austin's ability to clear her case load when she returns, unlike some individuals in this office whose names I will not mention." His eyebrow lift had crawled up practically to the top of his skull which was an amazing feat. His eyes pinned Mac to the wall. "I do not like scuttlebutt crawling around in my office." The disgust in his voice was apparent as he said the word, "There is a place for scuttlebutt and that's in the trash compactor outside of the JAG office. Am I making myself clear, Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Yes, sir." Mac said.

"So…" The erstwhile SEAL raised eyebrow imperceptibly farther up his forehead and said with dripping sarcasm, "Lieutenant Colonel? Then why are you bringing that crap in and allowing it to scuttle around my galley!?"

"No reason, sir." Mac knew she was in deep shit.

"Would you like an Article 133 and a Article 32? Lieutenant Colonel? Because if you persist in maligning Commander Austin to fellow officers, that will be the LEAST of what I will do to you. I will post you so far in the Antarctic to sit out your twenty, you will think Adak, Alaska was a TROPICAL RESORT!" Chegwidden hissed portentously hinting at Mac's doom. "Leave, Roberts."

Bud chose that moment to amscray before he became a target with hasty "By your leave, sir."

Chegwidden acknowledged this with a nod before he turned his malevolent glare back at Mac who felt about two inches tall at this point. "Commander Austin is a capable officer, able to pull her own weight at this office and that of other individuals who spend most of their time nit-picking other people in this office. I don't know what the hell is going on with you, Lieutenant Colonel, but this nitpicking and sniping at Commander Austin will stop or I will crawl so far up your butt that you'll think you have a Navy blue suppository embedded in your ass…and my Budweiser will be poking holes in your COLON! Am I making myself clear? Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Yes, sir. Crystal, sir."

"Then get your ass back to work before I find you in dereliction of duty…and debate whether to throw an Article 92 bombshell in your jacket folder!" Chegwidden snarled. "Dismissed…Lieutenant Colonel!"


	12. Put A Ring On That Finger, Rabb

AN: Animal earned the "blue button" in the events of a story (scheduled for a major rewrite – to be posted on in the future) based in the mountains of North Korea while he was a Lieutenant Commander and prefers not to think about it – the events were too traumatic. Occasionally he will turn around and use it to intimidate overbearing Navy staff bureaucrats and bombastic senators and congressmen and congresswomen, but on the whole prefers to let the ribbon sit quietly on his ribbon rack and be overlooked.

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

Mac stewed quietly in her office after getting dressed down thoroughly by RADM AJ Chegwidden – file folder open making it look as if she was studying the folder, but her mind was thousands of miles away. Not three hours into Tuesday and already her Tuesday was well on its way down the latrine. Too bad Lieutenant Singer had been so thoroughly unlikeable she had gotten herself killed by Commander Teddy Lindsey; she could have used that manipulative bitch to her advantage now if she was still living. The admiral had effectively silenced her smear campaign against Commander Austin, but she would do everything in her power to make life a living hell for Commander Austin; she just had to figure out how.

CDR Austin had her claws in Harm and Mac was determined to get them out no matter how ugly this got; but the SEAL had thrown down the gauntlet: _continue to be a disruptive presence in the office and she would be transferred to McMurdo Station_. And there was no doubt that he would do it too. Damn that Admiral Nakamura for opening Chegwidden's eyes. She didn't know what was said in that tirade coming from the office last week, but it had caused a complete 180 degree about-face in Chegwidden's effectiveness. The Admiral was on top of things that he hadn't used to be. If he was still stewing in his juices about his forthcoming retirement, he wouldn't have stuck up for Commander Austin; he would still have been bemoaning his fate and making life hell for the rest of the efficient officers in the JAG HQ. The atmosphere would have still been poisoned and the efficiency rating would still be stinking like Limburger cheese.

The Asian American admiral was the only one in the group who she couldn't utilize her feminine wiles to allure. He was already enthralled, smitten and married to…happily for many years to Commander Liandra Nakamura. He was also one of the untouchable – the JCS would protect him and all because he had gone after a fellow downed NFO in enemy territory on a black hush hush mission for the Naval Intelligence. What else could she do? Harm was smitten with Meg to the point where Mac, herself, had no chance of ever retrieving the situation beyond any repair.

Virginia Courthouse

US Federal District Courts – Roanoke Division

Courtroom 3

"Now, I'm curious." Judge Rita McLennan smiled, looking over her granny glasses at the two Navy commanders standing before her in the company of a young teenage girl. "What brings you two decorated US Navy officers here in my courtroom today?"

"Your honor, we would like to plead for custody of a Ms. Mathilda Grace Johnson." Meg stated clearly as she looked at the judge. "Her father abandoned her and she had been running the day to day operations of Grace Aviation for the past year and a half in his absence."

"Is Mr. Tom Johnson here to defend his position?" the Judge asked.

"I believe the social workers have tracked him down." Harm replied looking over at Meg who nodded.

"That doesn't answer my question, Mr. Rabb." The judge levelled a gaze at him raising one eyebrow as if to state that the question was self-evident. "My question was not if Mr. Johnson was notified, it was: "Is he here to defend his position? I see from the empty defense table that Mr. Johnson is not…"

A commotion at the door and a rather strident "I would like to get in to defend my parental rights!" statement aimed at the security at the back of the courtroom made the judge look up from her bench. A rather dishevelled sandy haired man whose eyes looked rather bloodshot managed to make his way to the front of the courtroom. "I'm here, Mattie." He said, looking over nervously at Meg, Harm and his daughter.

"…and you must be Mr. Tom Johnson, Mattie's father." The judge looked balefully at Tom. Evidently she wasn't too impressed as to the state that Mr. Johnson was in.

Tom Johnson swallowed nervously as he matched the judge's gaze. "I was notified by the Child Protection Services that there was a hearing for custody of Mattie." He stated; his voice calm despite the tenseness of the situation. "I came in to defend…my…"

At this statement, Mattie saw red and erupted. "You left me for the bottle! You didn't give a damn about me!"

Judge McLennan slammed the gavel down. "Ms. Johnson, Though I sympathise with what you have gone through, you will have your moment to speak in this hearing. I would ask that you pay the court the respect it deserves and not speak out of turn!" The threat was implicit and Harm and Meg managed to get Mattie to calm down, the last thing that she needed to have happen to her was to be incarcerated for _contempt of court_.

The judge gave Mr. Johnson the opportunity to defend his position and give his reasons why he abandoned Mattie to her own devices. The arguments, Harm felt, wouldn't hold any water when Judge McLennan made her decision. Meg looked over at Mattie who looked like an absolute seething volcano about to erupt. She leaned over to Mattie who whispered to her. "He's just making things up!"

"Captain Rabb, what made you interested in taking care of this young lady. Why didn't you feel that she would be better off in the hands of child protective services?"

"Ma'am, if you call being jumped around from foster care to foster care, with no stable home situation, that's not conducive to a child's safety and security. That's what I wish to give Mattie – a safe and secure home." Harm replied to the judge's query with as honest an answer as he could give.

The judge levelled a look at Meg, "Commander Austin. I noticed you and Captain Rabb are not married, yet you both intend to level a joint application for custody of Ms. Grace-Johnson here. Tell me why."

"Ma'am, As Captain Rabb stated we are trying to ensure that Mattie has a stable home life. She has had to endure running a business on her own thus having to grow up all too quickly, had to find some way to feed and support herself, all while paying bills and ensuring that she had a roof over her head. And she succeeded to some level, but it is still too early in her life at fourteen to have to do all that. She has sacrificed an education and a teen-ager's life in order to subsist. Despite the fact that Captain Rabb and I are not married, we do have a relationship and I intend to be the one that takes care of Mattie so that Captain Rabb can have visitation." Harm raised eyebrows at this and looked over at Meg in amazement. "Captain Rabb has a posting at NAS Patuxent River which means that he will be able to drive over at least 3 times a week to meet with Mattie, while Mattie can go to school during the week at a high-school in Reston where I reside which is only nineteen minutes by drive from where I work…"

Tom Johnson at this point was looking rather uncomfortable himself interjected. "But that's my daughter…and they're trying to take her away…"

"Mr Johnson, you have had your say. Considering the amount of work you have to do with surmounting your alcoholism, I'd say that you have your hands full with your addiction." The judge glared at him, silencing whatever else he was going to say. "Commander Austin, do you have anything else? I see you have a plan in place that will help Ms. Grace-Johnson here, however a single woman taking care of a young teen-ager while working is not a plus point in your favor. Right now, we have a social worker waiting to take Ms. Grace Johnson into her care, unless you have some means to enable a family situation and I am talking a connubial situation between the two of you, Captain Rabb and Commander Austin. We take that into high regard here that traditional families are the ones who have the most stability. Do you understand what it is that I'm saying?" Harm and Meg winced hard as the full realization of the situation fell on their shoulders as the judge's words sank in.

Mattie looked at the two of them bewildered. Surely they weren't going to back out now.

To his credit Harm didn't back out. "Your honor, we request that we have custody of Mattie while we sort out this situation, it won't take more than two weeks, your honor."

The judge smiled. "Very well, Captain Rabb. Temporary custody granted to Commanders Meg Austin and Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. You and Commander Austin will have two weeks to settle out your situation. Commander Austin, should this end with a ring on your left hand, I will have no choice other than to grant you custody. Keep that in mind. Captain Rabb and Commander Austin. This case is adjourned for two weeks whereupon I will grant a hearing for custody in case # 127401 Virginia CPS versus Commander Meg Austin and Captain Harmon Rabb. Court dismissed."

"ALL RISE!" the bailiff intoned. The court did so.

Five Minutes Later

Virginia Courthouse

US Federal District Courts – Roanoke Division

Outside Courtroom 3

"What just happened?" Meg looked at Harm with a look reminiscent of a deer in the headlights.

"Uh…I think you two got engaged, by legal decree." Mattie said looking at the two of them who looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I think I'll just pipe down."

"Meg…I know this isn't the most romantic way." Harm said.

"Let's go home and talk about it there. At least we have the day off for this all to sink in." Meg said. "This wasn't exactly the most romantic way to get engaged."

"Think the admiral will hit the ceiling?" Harm asked.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll probably go into lunar orbit when I tell him that we're getting married." Meg replied. "After all, I told him that I was involved with a certain 'ex-fighter pilot'. Did you see his face when you mentioned that you were the one involved with me? He went ballistic."

"Yes…" Harm remembered that nervous moment about whether or not AJ could actually do it (bust him down a grade or two) before Animal had quickly shut AJ down.

"To tell you the honest truth, I think we should tell him." Meg said quickly. "It'll make it smoother if he realizes the situation rather than us springing it on him with a ring after the fact." Hard as it was for Harm to say it, he agreed with Meg.

"Should we both go in?" he asked Meg.

"Might be better that way." Meg said, disguising the fact that she didn't want to be alone telling the Admiral that she was getting married. "Though there is a part of me that wants to do this in the bullpen where that Marine is around – must be the sadistic side of me though."

"Awwwww…" Harm grinned at Meg. "My Meg couldn't be sadistic."

"Um… 'my Meg', is it now?" Meg teased Harm back as she turned around to head for the door and the vehicle they came to the courthouse in - Harm's Mom-mobile.

"Love you, Meg." Harm tossed the endearment at her.

"Mmmm…I like the sound of that. Now before we hit Falls Church, feed me. I'm hungry!" Meg retorted. "Love you too." She tossed back.

Before Harm got the car engine going he made a quick call to NAS Pax River.

"Yeah…what is it." Animal's voice was on the other end of the call.

"Say, you have some dress whites?" Harm asked.

"You don't say!" Animal knew that dress whites outside of an official function could only mean one thing.

"Yep…I say…" Harm replied.

"F*NG DAMN!" Animal replied. "You got a save-the-date, so I know when to book Lia and myself off to be there?"

"Yep, will let you know once we iron all the details…" Harm said.

"Good." Animal's voice was jovial.

"You know you're going to be the honor guard captain, right?" Harm riposted at Animal.

"Yeah, and where's Schmuckeeter?" Animal sounded surprised that he was chosen honor guard captain. Normally it was the groom's best friend, not his superior officer that got the honor.

"He'll be on the opposite side." was the reply.

"When you get a hold of Keeter, tell him I said 'hi', will ya?" Animal queried.

"Oh, I'm sure you're in his nightmares." Harm said and grinned when he heard the malevolent chuckle over the phone in reply from Animal. "Catch you later, Animal."

"Good thing. Will talk to you soon." Animal replied and hung up on the other end of the phone line. Looking up from the phone, Harm's eyes met two pointed sets of stares.

"FEED ME!" the two chorused. Harm decided discretion was the better part of valor and headed for the nearest burger joint. Though he was a vegetarian, he knew a carnivorous look when he saw one and Meg and Mattie were not in the mood for dead-plant.

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

"Afternoon, sir." Bud greeted Harm with his normal effusive demeanor.

"Afternoon, Bud." Harm grinned as he followed his fiancée into her workplace – after the food, they had headed immediately for Falls Church to talk to the admiral. Mattie was asked if she would hang out in the bullpen until the admiral was finished with the two officers.

"Is the admiral in?" Meg asked the new admiral's legalman, evidently, she was a master chief legalman now, evidently everything got upgraded once Jen left.

"Yes, he is." Master Chief Diana Kronwall replied. "he is. Ma'am."

"Could you tell him that Captain Rabb and I need to speak with him?"

"Of course, ma'am. Will do." The MCLN quickly got on the phone with the admiral. "The admiral will see you two now."

"Thank you, Master Chief." Meg responded as the two stepped to the admiral's closed door and Meg pounded the pine requesting entry.

"ENTER!" the admiral replied to the knock.

"Commander Austin and Captain Rabb requesting permission to speak with the admiral, sir." Meg said.

"Rabb, I thought you'd be at Pax River. Enjoying your new post."

"Immensely, sir." Harm replied. "But something came up."

"I heard according to what Commander Austin related to me." The admiral said gruffly raising an eyebrow as he levelled a gaze at the captain. "So, what did you drag my best litigator into now?"

"Sir, I went willingly." Meg said. "Actually we have to tell you something."

"Oh?" the admiral said. "What is that?"

"Sir, we've decided to ask for custody of Mattie and the only way that we're going to get it is to show that we're united…" Meg said.

"in all things…" Harm added.

"gesù cristo" Admiral Chegwidden intoned; index finger and middle finger massaging his temple, thumb resting on chin. "I really don't want to know what that last meant. Next thing you're going to be telling me is that you two are going to get married."

Harm and Meg looked at each other, grinning sheepishly.

"JESUS CHRIST!" The admiral exploded. "I knew it! I knew it! When you told me that you were involved with this ex-fighter jock… Commander Austin, I knew there was only one road that it would lead to." he sighed melodramatically. "So…you have a save-the-date yet?"

"We're working on that, sir."

"One piece of advice, Rabb." The admiral said. "Put a ring on that finger of hers, ASAP! And make sure that I get the 'save the date'. Congratulations Commander Austin, Captain Rabb." He rose from behind the desk to come over and shake both officers' hands.

"Aye, aye, sir!"

"Congratulations. Now I'm sure you want to tell your friends here in the bullpen." AJ replied, not really looking forward to a certain Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel's reaction to the news. Yep, it wasn't going to be pretty.


	13. Drats! I Was Hoping For A Tsar Bomba

Author's Note: I know that you're disappointed that you didn't see a thermonuclear detonation from Mac, however there will be one further along in the story – when Harm finally has a discussion with Mac as to why he chose Meg over her.

_**Bullpen**_

_**JAG Headquarters**_

_**Falls Church, VA**_

"If I can have your attention!" Admiral Chegwidden's voice rang out in the center of the bullpen. "I believe that Commander Austin and Captain Rabb have something to say to all of us." At that, the entire bullpen looked like a school of meerkats, everyone poking their head up to listen to what would surely be an interesting announcement. Mac had just stepped out from her office at the announcement of the admiral.

Mac narrowed her eyes in challenge as Meg locked her eyes on her. The whole world seemed to slow down for a long moment as each woman levelled an unspoken challenge at each other. Mac's was still the old "I'll keep fighting you for him." Meg's was "Back off, you lost!"

Taking a long look around the bullpen staff, stopping her looks at Sturgis Turner, at a surprised Harriet, and at a befuddled Bud, she spoke quietly after taking in a deep breath. "Captain Rabb and I are making arrangements to adopt a young teenager who was abandoned by her birth-father and we were in court today to make that happen. Though we fell short of what we had hoped, we found that we had a chance to make a difference in that young girl's life if we chose to make a change in our status…" She made a long pause there, aiming her look at Colonel Mackenzie, who still didn't know what to make of the announcement. "matrimonially." She paused dramatically as breath intakes were audible throughout the bullpen. "The court would not only look more favorably upon Captain Rabb's application and mine, if we were together in the traditional sense..." reaching out to gather Mattie to her side, "that we would be able to give Mattie a traditional home with two parents."

"That's just a marriage of convenience, isn't it?" Mac's voice was condescendingly loud in the silence as all looks turned to her. "No love at all…" she continued still thinking that there was some hope for her and Harm.

"Actually…there is… it's not a marriage of convenience but one of mutual respect and admiration." Harm interjected. "Meg and I still have to go searching for a ring, but it still would be a choice between the two of us. It's not a marriage of convenience at all."

"…and that comes to my announcement." Meg stated, her heart buoyant, realizing that this was it: that she would be the one who would be Meg Austin-Rabb. "Captain Rabb is hereby effectively off the market. He and I are getting married within two weeks." There were looks of disappointment through the bullpen as the single Navy and Marine Corps women realized this. Despite the PDA regulations, Meg knew that the admiral would excuse the PDA, but she had to get her point across to that thick-headed Marine lieutenant-colonel, so she leaned in to the embrace of Harm and leaned her head against his shoulder, adding an adoring look. She thought she heard the Marine lieutenant colonel choke on her inhale.

Once she had finished coughing, Mac uttered a strangled "Wha-aaaat?!" then a louder "WHAAAT!"

'*cue nuclear explosion*' thought Meg to herself.

"Wait…she can't…what about frat regs? What about…the demoralizing effect in chain of command?" Mac sputtered angrily. "What about the fact that superior officers can't fraternize with subordinates!?" She couldn't believe the admiral was _smiling_ about this? This should have been an immediate Article 134 (Conduct Unbecoming) with the appropriate consequences. "Sir, when can I start the Article 134 investigation into this matter?" she directed an outraged question at the admiral.

"Lieutenant-Colonel. Captain Rabb is not in my immediate command, nor is Commander Austin in any of Captain Rabb's chain of command. So therefore according to the UCMJ, there are no rules regarding the fraternization of officers in separate commands." Rear Admiral AJ Chegwidden proclaimed in response. "So thus…no investigation necessary." Mac sputtered like a steaming kettle, but nothing else came out.

"1.2 MT?" Meg queried at Harm quietly.

"Naw…800kt. I've seen her get hotter under the collar." Harm replied.

Meg smiled, her cheeks dimpling, "Drats. I was hoping for a Tsar Bomba." A 53 MT blowup from that irritating Lieutenant Colonel would have been spectacular. "At least it wasn't a Davy Crockett." She said referring to the little tactical nuclear recoil-less rifle that fired the M388 nuclear projectile 1.25 miles away. The M388 only had a yield of about 10 to 20 tons of TNT. Not so much of a spectacular explosion to say the least.

The admiral leaned in to Harm. "I guess I didn't need the MPs – they were on speed-dial." Harm resisted exploding in laughter. Meg had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "I believe you two have a ring to go searching for." The admiral mock-pointedly glared at Harm. "I suggest you get on it. Commander Austin, since you have wedding preparations to make, I'll be giving you tomorrow off as well. However I expect that you'll be able to catch up on the cases between the time that you're here before your marriage and after your honeymoon."

The two officers said. "Aye aye, sir" and took their leave with Mattie before more nuclear fireworks could explode. Mac had turned around, stomped back into her office and slammed the door emphatically. "Glass didn't break." Harm said as they stepped out of the double doors heading for the elevator.

"I think building management put in safety glass on her door" Meg said quietly, "after the last slam cracked the glass on the door." She grinned, "Betcha the door breaks first next time."

_**3 Jewelry Stores Later**_

_**Reston, Virginia**_

Harm looked over at the engagement ring display case as Meg looked at the wedding rings. The salesperson looked over at them "We have the Pave style engagement ring. Some couples like a more substantial looking ring in size and weight, than the typical thin engagement band and diamond setting."

It took a few more hours to come up with a ring that fit Meg's ring-finger perfectly, as it was the salesperson's suggestion proved to be the clincher. Harm could barely believe it as he looked over at Meg's ring finger with the ring on it, proclaiming the fact that she was 'engaged' to the entire world. The blonde commander looked up at Harm smiling that wonderfully enigmatic smile as if she held a secret that only she knew.

"Love you, Harm." She whispered to him as she reached out with her right hand to take his left. He beamed a smile at her and reciprocated the endearment.

"Hungry?" Mattie said to her two 'parents'. "Feed a growing kid here."

Harm and Meg looked at her with two identical grins. "I think our kid wants something. Did you hear something?" Harm asked.

"Hmmm, I heard something about food." Meg said looking devilishly at Mattie, "And I think I'm getting hungry too."

"Let me see if I have enough money left for food." Harm said looking at his wallet melodramatically. "After this ring…I think I may end up having to treat us to McDonald's – the fast food that stereotyped fast food." He looked up to see two 'not very impressed' faces staring back at him.

_**National Mall**_

_**Washington DC**_

Mac paced the Mall back and forth looking harried and angry. The problem with the usually therapeutic walk was that it wasn't doing anything to help her mood in any case. All she seemed to be getting was more and more angry. She had said yes to the 'baby deal' almost 5 years earlier and it was just about getting to that point – there had been an agreement to that effect. She had conveniently forgotten that there was an 'out-clause' – if in five years that neither of them was in a relationship. And then that blonde bimbo had to come back into Harm's life just when she had managed to get her life to the point where she was willing to settle for Harm. And the kicker was today when that said blonde bimbo had indicated that she would be marrying Harm in two weeks. Oh, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie was incandescent with rage. Well, would bimbo be marrying Harm or would she? Mac intended that there was only one person who would have Harm and Mac was going to be that person.

"Hell, I propositioned him under the Sydney Bridge." She sputtered to herself as she paced the Reflecting Pool with the golden sunset reflected on the water. "And the dumb flyboy didn't want to do anything, so what was I supposed to do, wait until hell froze over?" She rationalized her behavior of running to the first available man that she could run to, by saying "I gave him an offer that any normal person shouldn't be able to refuse – I offered him my body. But he wouldn't take it, so who else should I have turned to except Mic." She paced some more…her uniform drawing attention that normally wouldn't have considering that her frenetic activity was causing her more attention than her uniform. "Harm was just stupid to refuse to take me that night" she rationalized as she continued to pace the Mall, getting angrier and angrier.

"Blondie will rue the day…" Mac muttered to herself as she tore herself away from the mindless pacing and stalked to her Corvette, angrily abusing the door (with a thunderous slam) to the undeserving vehicle, viciously twisted the ignition, yanked on the automatic gear shift and peeled out, leaving a cloud of smoke. What transpired next would absolutely add more fuel to her already incandescent fury. She saw the twinkling blue and reds of a Washington DC Police Car in her rear view window. She pulled the car over, rolling down the window and waited impatiently for the police officer to come to the driver side window.

"Do you realize what speed you were going at?" The brusque voice of a Sergeant growled, whose stripes appeared at her window about a half a second before his glowering un-amused face did. "Especially in a pedestrian rich location? You realize that at the speed you were going at, if you hit someone, you'd cause a fatality?"

"No, officer, I wasn't aware of my speed." Mac gritted through clenched teeth. Despite the fact that she was a Marine Lieutenant Colonel, her rank meant nothing off the base to these police officers.

"Well, since you haven't been made fully aware of the road rules here, Marine!" the police sergeant snapped, "I'm going to be writing you out a ticket for a $275.00 fine. You have 30 days to make restitution to the City Hall at 4th and E Streets. Driver's License please." He extended a hand to take Mac's driver's license. "Ms. Mackenzie. If you do not pay this fine, you will be placed under warrant for your arrest, do you understand me?"

"Yes, Sergeant, I am a lawyer, I do understand my rights and you can be damned sure I'll pay the fine." Mac snapped.

"Then as a lawyer, I'm sure you understand the severity of the charge for which you are being fined." The Sergeant retorted sarcastically, as he returned the drivers license and proceeded to hand her the speeding ticket. All because she had chosen to pace the Mall, her usual therapeutic haunt rather than go directly home from work. And right now, bimbo was probably with Harm picking out their wedding rings. If there was a glass in her hand, she would have thrown it.

"Yes…Sergeant." She bit out, detesting every second of having to be polite.

"You have a good day now. Drive more carefully than you were doing!" the sergeant snapped and returned to his patrol vehicle. Mac's ire towards Meg took a steep upward climb on the chart of enmity.

When she got home, she dialled the phone number for Harriet. "I need to talk to you." Mac said.

"What is it?" Harriet said. "Bud is home. I can come over and stick around for a couple of hours if you need to vent." Harriet wasn't sounding too happy herself because she wished that her friend, Mac could have gotten together with Harm. Bud was ecstatic and Harriet really didn't share the same opinion.

_**Thursday **_

_**JAG Headquarters**_

_**Falls Church, VA**_

Harriet said quietly to Mac in the break room. "Face it, Ma'am, you've lost Captain Rabb."

"…but he promised." The plea sounded like she was giving up. "We had that deal."

"What deal?" Harriet inquired. "What deal are you talking about?"

"That's what I'd like to know too." Meg's voice came from behind the two of them – she didn't sound impressed in the slightest.

The startled expressions on both Harriet and Mac's face would have been hysterically funny if Meg wasn't so annoyed at the two officer's cattish behavior. Mac's face grew glowing with rage as her eyes fell upon the diamond engagement ring that Meg was wearing and Meg knew it was making the Marine boil so she made sure that she held her hand at an angle where the diamond was in plain view. Cattish behaviour, indeed, but it was so worth it to see the Marine fume.

"What are you doing here?" Mac thought to ask venomously. "I thought you'd be at home taking care of _wedding plans_."

"Harm and I are actually taking turns on that. It's not the sole realm of the wife-to-be. Harm wanted to have equal duties in making this wedding one to remember." She emphasized Harm's name and _one to remember_ and that was definitely triggering LCOL Sarah Mackenzie very easily. "So what's this deal that he had with you, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie."

"I don't believe it's any of your business." Mac retorted.

"Well, as his wife-to-be…" Meg stated icily "It is my business when you mention a deal that you _had_ prior to our engagement. A deal which now is null and void if I recall what it was." Mac's face turned pale as Meg insinuated that she knew of 'the deal'. As if her day couldn't get any worse coupled with the events of the day and evening before. Well, it did. This day had just taken an enormous dump in the crapper.

"And I wouldn't think about that deal any longer, Colonel, because…" if Meg's voice could grow any colder it would have matched the Arctic winds blowing at the North Pole. "…it will be a cold day in hell, before you get your hands on Harm. Am I clear on that, Colonel?"

"I believe you are, Commander. Now if you would excuse us. I believe I have a coffee to get and work to get back to." Mac said primly as she tried to save face.

"As opposed to the work you were getting done, I presume." Commander Austin said pointedly. "Actually I've cleared my desk and I am planning on getting the admiral's approval to secure early. I hope you do get out from under the pile that you currently have on your desk at the moment. I hear they might be calling search and rescue if the pile grows any higher and decides to cause an avalanche."

Mac nearly broke her jaw gritting her teeth as she exited the break-room. It would be an Article 108 if she put a fist through the wall and this Commander Meg Austin was about to push her to the breaking point. That is if she didn't go completely postal and have to be restrained by the men in white coats.


	14. When The Other Shoe Falls

_**JAG Headquarters**_

_**Falls Church, VA**_

_**Friday Morning**_

A brown-haired lieutenant made his way up the stairs saluting a LN1 on the way into the office. Generally known as a suave, persuasive – the term 'slimy' had been bandied about – lawyer, Lieutenant Gregory Vukovic was a charmer and that was his _modus operandi_. In his hand he held a sheaf of papers, his orders, cut to a post in the Judge Advocate General Headquarters and telling him to report to a Rear Admiral A.J. Chegwidden. Well he could do that easily enough.

Five minutes later walking through the double-doors he saw the prettiest vision on two legs. As his eyes travelled further up the torso, he noticed that torso was wearing Marine Service Charlies. Then he noticed the silver oak leaves on her collars. _'oh shit'_ was his only thought before the stunningly gorgeous vision turned his world to hellfire and brimstone.

"Exactly what is it that you're looking at, Lieutenant?" an icily prim voice informed him of his gross misconduct.

"Ma'am…" Lieutenant Gregory Vukovic tried to remedy his mistake by asking. "I'm looking for RADM AJ Chegwidden."

"And that would mean ogling my legs?!" the Marine female officer snapped. "It looked as though you were trying to visually strip me, Lieutenant!"

"No, ma'am." Vukovic back-pedaled. "I was just checking to see if my shoes were properly shined to military spec, ma'am."

"Well, keep it in your pants next time, Lieutenant or I will write you up on Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice." Mac growled ominously. "I wasn't born yesterday."

"Yes, ma'am." Lieutenant Vukovic said, looking for the nearest exit. Spying the admiral's door, he said a hasty "by-your-leave, ma'am" and headed for the admiral's office.

_**Meg's office**_

For a soon-to-be married officer, Meg Austin was still busy as heck. She wanted to get the case files down to a manageable level before the Imes trial got underway, but she was starting to regret her decision to stick around to _prove a point_ to the erstwhile Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie. She grumbled to herself that she would have been wiser, after clearing off the files on her desk to opt to ask, as she had planned, the admiral to secure early – but she hadn't Evidently, that wasn't the best possible choice now, as she was realising. Right now the reviews of the cases that Imes was a part of were stymied by the number of incoming cases from other locales.

As one of the most efficient lawyers in the office, Meg was constantly swamped with those cases. But today she was taking the time to go through Commander Carolyn Imes caseload and made it a point to notify the LNs and other officers that she would be reducing her pile of Imes review cases to negligible before her wedding and honeymoon and that she wouldn't be taking any outside cases until her Imes review caseload was empty. That was approved by the admiral wholeheartedly though Mac had snorted about ability to prioritize whereas the admiral had turned around and asked her just how far she was through her Imes cases. That shut the Marine up quickly.

"I guess I'll get through this next case file and see if I can talk to the admiral to see if I can secure." Meg said to herself as she bored her way through another rather thick case file to see if there was anything that she could work with in terms of negotiating an deal and get the case off her plate.

_**Naval Air Station Patuxent River**_

_**Patuxent River, Maryland.**_

"Pitbull, punch out!" yelled his wingman as the F/A-18C Hornet went into a irrecoverable spin – one flap down, one flap up.

"My flaps are jammed. Massive hydraulic failure!" Lieutenant Commander Matthew "Pitbull" Duplessis yelled out. "I'm trying, but the g-forces…have my hands pinned to the sides, can't move them..." The massive G-forces (almost 9Gs) were making it difficult to move his forearm from where they were located pinned to the contour of the seat. Even trying to put his fingers around the alternate ejection handle mounted to the armrest was damned near impossible.

"Grab the handle"" His wingman shouted referring to the handle between legs of the aviator on the NACES ejection seat.

It was a futile gesture as the Hornet impacted in a fiery blossom on the southwest corner of the airfield. Pitbull didn't get out.

_**JAG Headquarters**_

_**Falls Church, VA**_

"Lieutenant Vukovic, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, Commander Meg Austin, my office!" The admiral ordered across the bullpen. All three officers headed to the admiral's office. When they had entered Admiral Chegwidden's office, the door closed. "There has been an incident at NAS Pax River – RADM Nakamura has been so kind as to fax the particulars over as soon as the incident happened. A F/A-18 Hornet's hydraulic system had a massive failure, the aircraft went into what was referred to as a terminal spin and impacted the ground, the aviator did not get out. We're looking into everything with regards to the maintenance of the aircraft involved. Navy crash investigators are combing the wreckage as we speak trying to find any clues. I want you three to go down and find out what happened. Commander Austin, you're prosecuting, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, Lieutenant Vukovic, you're on defense of any persons indictable in this case. Am I clear on this matter? Hopefully this matter won't take much longer than a week to wrap up."

"Aye aye, sir." Meg said, her eyes looking dismayed – considering all the work needing to be done on the cases as well as preparations for the wedding, this case was an imposition, but such was the Navy on conjugal life. She however was determined not to let this case spoil the wedding and aimed to have the case wrapped up in three days. Harm was not going to be happy about this, but he was going to have to shoulder the bulk of the wedding preparations.

As they exited the admiral's office, Mac looked at her as if she was looking at something on her shoe that she had stepped in deigning to ask: "Shall we take a single car?"

Like hell! Meg didn't feel like being stuck with the stuck-up lieutenant colonel for any more time that she could stomach. If she managed to get her side of the investigation finished, she didn't want to stick around any longer than she needed. And knowing LCOL Sarah Mackenzie, she would do everything possible to disrupt the wedding plans. "I'll take my own." Meg replied. "I need to be back as soon as possible as soon as I finish my side of the investigation."

"Hopefully your haste to come back quickly won't factor into the quality of your investigating." Mac sniped.

"I doubt it, I keep my personal and professional life separate as much as possible." Meg replied with a snarky tone implying that Mac had a tendency to behave like a female dog in heat then walked off to get her gear together.

Mac stalked off to her own office seething under her collar.

_**Meg's Apartment**_

_**Reston, VA**_

Harm sat in his fiancée's apartment reading his NATOPS manual when the phone rang. "Hello, Meg Austin's residence? May I help you?"

"Sweetheart?" Meg's voice, her twang evident "I need to give you some bad news. The Admiral has put me on an investigation, it may take up to about a week to investigate, but I'm taking a separate car. I'll be back as soon as I finish up. I'm on prosecution for this case so I can ask for a recess for three weeks before it goes to trial. It'll give us enough time to get things sorted out, I hope."

Harm was disappointed but he knew what working at JAG HQ entailed. And he knew that his fiancée was highly professional. Work came before personal life and this was an investigation. Harm knew what investigations were like.

"OK…my love," Harm could barely believe the stuff coming out of his mouth. It sounded like a B-grade romance, but he couldn't resist the endearments especially with his Meg and the simple fact that she was going to be his wife soon added to the desire that he felt especially when it came to her.

"Love you too, Harm. I'll see you when I get back." The phone went to dial-tone as Meg hung up.

The phone rang again and Harm picked it up. Surprisingly it was Animal. "How'd you know where I was?"

"Simple deduction, kemosabe." Animal retorted. "You were with Meg on the night I came over to Blacksburg. I have her file and contact information. And I figured correctly that if your phone didn't answer – to try you over at Meg's. Elementary, my dear Watson."

"No shit, Sherlock…" Harm groused.

"Well anyways, I need you back at Pax River, Harm. Got three JAGs coming down from Falls Church and I need you there to translate their legal-weenie talk into plain English. Maybe that'll help get the investigation done quicker and get your woman back to you so you two can get some wedding plans done." Harm knew that Animal was referring to Meg, one of the investigators.

_**Naval Air Station Patuxent River**_

_**Patuxent River, Maryland**_

_**4 hrs later**_

Harm walked through the door of the main office at Pax River, showing his base ID to the sergeant at the desk. Heading for his office, he greeted Coates. "Can you tell RADM Nakamura that I'm here?" he asked pleasantly as possible to his legalman.

"Yes, sir. Captain Rabb." Coates replied smiling.

About ten minutes passed before Animal appeared at his office door. "The JAGs are currently in with Vice Admiral Hadfield. We're both expected to be present." Harm nodded and followed him to the Vice-Admiral's office. Knocking on the door, Harm and Animal stepped into the office.

"It amounts to a massive hydraulic failure insofar as we know right now." Vice-Admiral Hadfield was saying at the moment the two other officers stepped into the office. Looking up, the admiral grinned and said. "Captain Rabb, Rear Admiral Nakamura, glad you could join us." Locking eyes with Meg, Harm grinned at Meg's questioning look gesturing with his thumb at Animal. Meg rolled her eyes. It had to be Animal coaxing Harm back to NAS Pax River.

The meeting went for about an hour and when they were finished, Meg stepped outside with Harm, "Where's Mattie?"

"She's at the BOQ. I brought her with me." Harm stated quietly. "I wouldn't leave her anywhere."

"OK…" Meg said relieved.

"Who's the new guy?" Harm asked.

"A Lieutenant working with Mac. A Lieutenant Gregory Vukovic." Meg answered with a sense of relief that her fiancé was there. "Thank goodness I took my car with me, since I felt like he was sizing me up. Almost thought I'd have to shower to feel clean again."

Harm's response was instant macho male. "I'll put a stop to that." A fist in the pie-hole of the slimy lieutenant would correct that situation very quick…

"Harm…behave." Meg arched an eyebrow. At that admonition, Harm's fury fled. No slimy lieutenant would have him sacrifice his Meg just for some instant gratification in pounding Vukovic into mulch.

Since they were on a military base, PDAs would be severely frowned upon so the two officers kept to strict military protocol, but Harm did notice that Meg did wear her engagement ring on her left hand ring finger. That gave him a definite sense of satisfaction.

_**Naval Air Station Patuxent River**_

_**Patuxent River, Maryland**_

_**Briefing Room 7**_

Mac looked over at Lieutenant Vukovic. "Lieutenant. What did you think of the interview?"

"I don't know. All we got was that he did nothing wrong, that he saw his flight leader have a massive in-flight hydraulic failure and lose control of his aircraft, has a liking for ham sandwiches and has a beer and an apple pie at the O'Club every Friday afternoon. Ma'am. I don't think we're going to get much out of him." LT Vukovic responded.

"What do you say that we start interviewing the ground crew. There's something fishy about an in-flight hydraulic failure" Mac's look brooked no objection. "That points to ground-crew negligence causing death and whoever gets nailed for this is going to need a defense as to why they weren't responsible because I have a feeling that it's more than one person. It won't be fair to let one person take the fall if multiple people were involved in careless negligence." …and the opportunity to stick it to Meg was more than ample, as she was the Judge Advocate General prosecutor.

_**Naval Air Station Patuxent River**_

_**Patuxent River, Maryland**_

_**Briefing Room 3**_

In the mean time, Meg was coming to the same conclusion that there was more than one person involved in the negligence case and that it didn't rest on the wingman. And she knew that this case wasn't going to be solved in one day. Reading her notes after her interview with Lieutenant Kenny "Mao" Tong, USN, she determined that she seriously needed to talk to the ground crew for the F/A-18C Hornet that crashed. Navy crash investigators had gone over the wreckage with a fine tooth comb and a three ring binder with crash investigation report had been handed over to her for her perusal – some of this investigation she was going to have to run through Harm and Animal for their input, due to some of the terminology in the report. A secondary copy had been given to the defense counsel – Mac in this case.

She looked up, rolled her eyes and sighed. This was going to put a major crimp into Mattie's adoption case.

"When the other shoe falls, it really does fall hard, doesn't it?" Harm's voice said right next to her. She turned around to see Harm. Nodding quietly, she sighed frustrated in response.

"Let's see what they came up with" Harm said quietly as he looked over at the crash report binder.

"I still have a few more interviews to do. The ground crew…needs to be interviewed."

"I'd presume so." Harm replied glancing at Meg briefly while reading the crash investigation report. "Yeah…it needs to be looked into. Lieutenant Tong is a good aviator, one of the best. There wouldn't be any reason why he'd be involved. He's the innocent bystander in this one. He had no way to prevent what happened considering he was in another aircraft."

Meg nodded. "That's why I didn't call him to the witness list. I've got his deposition recorded and on paper, it's good enough to stand up in court." She paused and gave him a winsome smile? "Care to be second chair?"

"Oh, really?" Harm raised an eyebrow then said smugly "The thing is: a) would the admiral let me and b) how would you ask VADM Hadfield to let me do it?"

Meg gave a melodramatic sigh. "Well…there goes that idea…" knowing just how much of an explosion would result from that request.

"…but if I were able to…" Harm replied quietly and wistfully. "I would do it in a heartbeat."

" I know you would." Meg said winking at him. "So let's go grab a bite to eat at the mess. I'm famished."

"Do I need to tell the mess to stock up on extra food while you and Mac are here?" Harm asked, eliciting a glare from Meg. "I don't know much about Vukovic's eating habits. He'll just have to starve if the mess-hall runs out."

"You are so lucky that we're on a military base…or you'd have a majorly sore arm." Meg gave him a look that would freeze ethylene glycol. "Are you intimating that I eat too much."

"Heaven forbid." Harm drew back with a frightened expression.

"Lucky for you, or you'll be spending your honeymoon on the couch." Meg snarked at Harm shooting him a self-satisfied expression.


	15. You you are getting married?

_**JAG Headquarters**_

_**Falls Church, VA**_

"Nice to see you again…" RADM AJ Chegwidden looked over at the blonde female captain. "I trust that you had a good flight back from the UK?"

The voice, from years of cigarette smoking, sounded rather huskily scratchy. "Well, I'm pleased to be back, Admiral…" She smiled and extended her hand which AJ took. "Well…it has been a long time. Is Lieutenant Commander Rabb still around?"

"Actually, Commander Rabb is now Captain Rabb and he works out of NAS Pax River. His fiancée works here actually after transferring back from Naval Intelligence." AJ gazed at the one-time precipitator of the one-sided attentions on his prized attorney with a calculated look. Let's see how she took that bit of news. He didn't believe that the former Commander now Captain had the astuteness to realize just who the 'fiancée' was.

"Well, that's an amazing bit of news…" Captain Allison Krennick replied raising her eyebrows showing a pretty fair poker face at the fact that the prized Captain Rabb was off the suitor's market. "So, when did that happen?"

"Fairly recently as a matter of fact." AJ replied, a mischievously smug look on his face, as he glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Captain Krennick. "I need you to head down to NAS Pax River as a favor and relieve the prosecuting attorney, she has a wedding to attend and I'd like for her to be able to be free to make her wedding plans as quickly as possible. The case involves a crashed F/A-18 Hornet. However you will finish the investigation, make your findings and sit second chair to the commander who is currently investigating this case which will be prosecuted after the commander comes back from her honeymoon." He knew Allison was bristling inside at the fact that she, of senior rank, had to sit second chair to a mere commander. And he knew that she'd be going ballistic inside when she found out exactly who that commander was. Did he really give a shit what she thought of the situation – a piece of ice had a better chance in hell of gaining sympathy. In essence, this was Allison's last chance. If she ~f~d this one up badly, she'd be retired with her full twenty in and a pension. This was also a stumbling block for her too; if she indulged her propensity for 'thinking outside _her box_' she'd get hit with a charge of conduct unbecoming and lose every single bit of what she worked for these twenty years. It was a choice between a rock and a hard place. AJ really didn't care if she exceeded her expectations or failed miserably – either way was fine; she'd prove her worth or get fired out the escape trunk – didn't bother him one bit.

"I can be on my way within the hour." Captain Krennick replied, eager to please; appearing to the admiral, all too much like a puppy dog.

AJ turned around to face her full on. "That will be fine, dismissed."

"Aye-aye, sir."

_**NAS Pax River**_

_**Parking Lot A**_

Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. thought he saw an apparition when he saw a familiar blonde-headed naval officer step out of the navy blue USN marked Suburban. Not only that, but Commander Meg Austin looked visibly shaken as their former nemesis from 7 years ago stepped in front of them. "Captain Rabb, how nice to see you. I just returned from UK Fleet JAG in London and was returned to the Judge Advocate General HQ. Fancy meeting you here at Pax River." Allison said in honeyed sweet tones – at least as honeyed as a few decades of smoking would allow her to do. "I was told to meet a commander – she's prosecuting the case. Rear Admiral Albert Jethro Chegwidden has asked me to take over the case of a crashed F/A-18 Hornet for her in order to proceed with her wedding plans. Would you happen to know where that commander is?"

Harm and Meg looked at each other. "Captain." Meg stated firmly. "I believe we need to discuss things in a private conference room. Please follow me."

A bewildered Allison Krennick followed Harm and Meg through the hallways to a small conference room where she was ushered in and the door shut behind her. Gesturing to a small circular table roughly two thirds of the way over, she was asked to sit down while Harm and Meg sat down in front of her. "You wished to speak to the prosecuting attorney with regards to take over the case?"

"Yes. Commander." Allison was starting to get an inkling of who that commander might be, when Meg dropped the bomb. Resting both hands on the table, the rock on her fourth finger left hand blatantly visible – Meg thanked her lucky stars that Harm had the foresight of getting her an engagement ring, it proved her point.

"Captain Krennick." Meg said carefully enunciating her words. "You are speaking to the prosecuting attorney for this case."

Harm, seeing who he called _The Dragon Lady, _Allison's eyes going from ring to Meg's face back to ring again, had a tough time keeping in his amusement – he tried to keep a firm serious look on his face but the merriment threatened to break through. But Meg was all business as she briefed Captain Krennick on the particulars of the case and what they had so far; she also mentioned the names of the defense attorneys on the case, the simple fact that Lieutenant Tong was not to be considered a suspect any longer as there was absolutely no evidence.

"Commander Austin…" Captain Krennick stated formally repressing any hint of distaste at the situation. "Admiral Chegwidden also asked me to sit second chair to you at the prosecution of whoever was responsible for the accident." She had to sit second chair to the former Lieutenant JG Meg Austin – now Commander Austin? How the world had changed.

"…Very well, Ma'am." With a long pause Commander Meg Austin was markedly calculated in the length of time that it took to reply to Captain Krennick's revelation. "I will be in contact with you after my honeymoon so that we can proceed with the prosecution. I doubt it will take very long for the trial once the investigation is complete."

"No doubt, Commander." Allison replied shortly. Captain Krennick was still stupefied over the ring on Commander Meg Austin's ring finger. She turned to Harm and asked. "…and your connection to this case." Meg's eyes followed Allison's questioning look. "Captain Rabb?"

"Well, since we…" Harm said, getting to his feet, gently helping Meg up to her feet from her seated position on the chair, while gesturing to encompass both Meg and himself, "received the information that you were added to the case and would be temporarily taking over the investigation, both Commander Austin and I were having a discussion outside regarding the viability of this case, but since you are now temporarily in command of the investigation…" at this Harm let loose a gigantic grin. "we're heading to the VOQ to check out."

"Well, Captain Rabb, that's a pity." Allison tried to put a tone in her voice that she thought was sultry. "I was so hoping that we could go have a drink at the O'Club and talk over old times."

"Unfortunately, there is a matter with my charge – a minor that Meg and I have to rectify, so unfortunately we have to get going. After all…" Harm grinned. "A teenager who is hungry isn't an absolute joy to be around."

By this time, poor Allison was getting so confused that she blurted out. "What do you mean, your charge?"

"I'm adopting a minor." Harm tried to suppress a grin as he looked casually measuring the reaction in Captain Krennick. Meg in this case let the temporary lapse slip. She didn't want Allison to know yet that she had lost the minor skirmishes that they had had over 7 years ago. "She was found abandoned at an airfield and she was someone I worked for while I was temporarily out of the Navy." Harm replied relishing the fact that Meg was planning on dropping a gigantic bomb on Allison's hopes of ever hooking up with Harm.

Meg by this time, mentioned quietly to Harm, but just loud enough so Captain Krennick could overhear, "Captain Rabb?" she said sweetly. "I think Mattie needs some food, we'd better go since Captain Krennick relieved me of duties for this case for the next few weeks."

"That we should, Commander Austin." Harm's expression remained unchanged but his voice held a note of smugness.

"Thank you, Captain Krennick." Meg finally turned to smile at her.

"And where will I get a hold of you should I need to contact you during your honeymoon, let's say perhaps an emergency?" Allison ventured to ask looking at both Meg and Harm standing close together.

"We're not too sure yet, but we'll endeavour to leave a number that we can be reached at…" Meg said sweetly to Allison. "Of course the destination hasn't been decided yet."

"I'll be sure to get you the details of where _**we**_ can be reached once the location has been decided." Harm couldn't resist a grin. "But only in case of emergency, Captain Krennick."

"How…where…what?!" the stammered reply of a non-plussed female navy captain just about nearly had Meg in stitches. Allison was looking at Harm, then at Meg and back with such a confused expression that it was comedic.

"Thanks for relieving me of the case for the next few weeks, Captain Krennick." Meg said. "I really appreciate that."

"You…you…two…" Allison finally digested the information and it wasn't palatable to her. "…are getting married…?"

"Yes, Captain." Harm was the one who decided to reply since he was of equal rank with Allison. "She is my fiancée. I met her while I was not in the Navy and RADM Nakamura facilitated my re-entry as COMNAVAIRFOR JAG into the Navy as an O-6 and Commander Austin took my spot at JAG. So taking advantage of the fact that we are not in the same chain of command, Commander Austin and I decided to get married of which we are making plans to do so in the following week." Allison Krennick recalled the erstwhile Lieutenant Commander (battlefield promoted to Commander) from the MOH investigation – how he had risen the ranks.

And it finally sank into her head that Harm was well and truly off the market. She had definitely been slow to put two and two together. RADM Chegwidden had told her that Harm's fiancée worked at JAG and that Commander Austin mentioned that she was engaged. God, she had to be much better on the ball if she wasn't going to get herself out-maneuvered by other lawyers. So much for one Captain Harmon Rabb – unfortunately she was not ever going to be able to land him so she had better start looking for someone else. Allison sighed softly and extended her hand to her former rival in Harm's affections "Commander Austin, Captain Rabb. My congratulations to you both."

"Thank you, Captain Krennick." Meg said. "And truly, Mattie is hungry so we really do have to get going."

"By all means, Commander. All the best to you." Allison couldn't honestly say that she was happy, but she was damned if she was going to put a sour face on this.

_**Later**_

_**In Harm's Lexus Mom-mobile**_

"I think Captain Krennick took that well, didn't she?" Meg said leaning over to give Harm a kiss on the lips.

"Mmm, I'm sure she did." Harm managed to say once he divested himself of her lips on his. "Considering that she wanted to take me to the O'Club and then probably some indeterminate location afterwards."

"That woman never changes…" Meg said. "Let's go pick Mattie up at the BOQ and go get something to eat."

_**Conference Room A**_

_**NAS Patuxent River**_

_**Patuxent River, MD. **_

"Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, Lieutenant Vukovic, I'm Captain Allison Krennick. I'm taking over for Commander Meg Austin during her leave for her wedding and honeymoon." Allison Krennick leaned over the conference table to shake Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie's hand. "So what do you have for me?"

"Aircraft Maintenance Technician 2nd class Juan Ruiz, Aircraft Maintenance Technician 2nd class David Berg, Aircraft Maintenance Technician 3rd class Mike Sanchez have been interviewed, each have admitted to being in a hurry to get out of the hangar and may have skipped a few steps after checking the hydraulic lines. Now we need to refer to a AMCS's recommendation to determine just exactly how much their skipping steps contributed to the hydraulic failure that caused the crash." Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie replied.

"Fine. As prosecuting attorney, I am recommending charges of negligent homicide under Article 134 subsection 4." Allison stated, reading the look on LCOL Mackenzie's face. Reading what was there; Allison knew that Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie wouldn't budge one inch…and neither would she - birds of a feather. "Do we have all that we need to go to trial?"

"I'm waiting on the Senior Chief Aircraft Maintenance Technician's recommendations in written format. Ma'am." Mac said.

"Very well. How soon do you think that will take?"

"Not more than a day. Ma'am."

"Well, then, I will return to JAG HQ and commence filing the case so that we can get this underway when Commander Austin returns from her honeymoon." Captain Krennick disliked seeing herself in the mirror and looking at Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie realized that the Marine Lieutenant Colonel in both demeanor and wanton-ness was more than a match for the Navy Captain.

"Yes, Ma'am!" the lieutenant colonel deferred to Allison's superior rank.

_**Lansing Correctional Facility**_

_**Leavenworth, Kansas**_

"Prisoner Roll Call!" the prion guard called out.

"Prisoner # 14358 missing!" one of the other guards called out amid the catcalls, hoots and hollers of the inmates.

"Cross-reference the prison rolls, who is that prisoner?" the prison guard bellowed, "I want to know who it is." He knew that heads were going to roll on this one. Looking down at the rolls, when the other guards managed to cross-reference the name, he knew that this prisoner had a lot of enemies on the outside. The chances of returning this escaped prisoner to the prison intact would go down considerably. More likely than not, he would end up in a body bag; but considering how slippery this perp was, he would end up leaving a bloody trail.


	16. Maybe I Waited Too Long

_**Meg's **_Apartment

_**Reston, VA**_

It was well past eleven, when an exhausted Harm pulled into the parkade of Meg's residence at Reston. The convoy; Meg having taken a Judge Advocate General motor pool vehicle from Falls Church and Harm taking his Lexus, had made its way back to Falls Church, where Meg had handed over the well-being of the vehicle back to the Marine security sentry on duty.

"hmmmm…" Meg sighed to his right hand side, "it's so nice to be home; to be able to hand things off to Captain Krennick and be able to come home and sleep in my own bed."

"Yeah…" Harm said thinking on the drive he would have back to BOQ at Pax River. Even though there were wedding plans, he still had to work. Maybe he should have asked for the week off.

When they were situated in Meg's apartment, Harm picked up the phone dialing a number. When the receiver was picked up on the other end, Harm spoke. "Hey boss." He grinned as he could imagine the look on his friend's face. "Just thought I would update you on what was going on."

"Do you know what time it is, Rabb?" Animal sounded slightly sleepy and irritated, putting on his rear-admiral persona. "I presume the handlers screwed the pooch on this one?"

"It's starting to look that way." Harm said. "Prosecutor" he tossed a look back at Meg who responded with an indulgent expression. "says she's pressing charges."

"Good." Animal replied. "Just keep me apprised of the case, anyways. By the way, Rabb, you got three weeks off…Help your 'prosecutor' out with the wedding plans." Animal probably had a chow-eating grin on his face on the other end of the line, Harm suspected.

"Yes, sir." Harm grinned. "Three weeks off, aye, sir."

"I'm busy…with Lia." Animal sounded even more irritated. "Now get off the damned phone line before I make those three weeks assessing the runway conditions in Keflavik, Iceland!"

"Yes, sir." Harm agreed quickly. "Thank you, sir. See you in three weeks."…and hung up the phone. "Uh…that was more than I really wanted to know." He muttered, shaking his head, wondering if he would ever get the image out of his mind. Meg queried him with a silent look. "No, sweetheart, you really don't want to know."

"oh…" Meg said knowingly. Mattie just looked confused.

"What I can tell you is this: Animal gave me three weeks off to help you with the preps and for our honeymoon." Harm grinned, reaching for Meg who willingly returned his embrace.

_**NAS Patuxent River**_

_**Patuxent River, Maryland**_

_**Next day**_

"Is she gone yet?" Vice-Admiral Hadfield asked peering from his office door with a nervous expression.

"I think so." Animal responded, looking over at the vice-admiral with a questioning expression. "Why do you ask?"

"That woman's like a dog-in-heat." The Vice-Admiral grumbled. "She's got her eyes set on some stars and she just about nearly had an orgasm when she saw the three on my collar!"

Animal restrained his desire to laugh his head off. Captain Allison Krennick, United States Navy JAG had not changed in nine years. And that behaviour was quite possibly that was the main reason why her fitreps had caused her to not be promoted in those nine years other than at the very tail end of her promotion window. At this rate it would be lucky for her to see a star before the end of her thirty years in uniform. This was the reason why he had gone up three grades instead of her one. That and jealous service members would have also added in the _influence _of the blue button on promotion boards. The deep-selection to Captain; then the definite deep-selection to Rear Admiral (lower half) coming at the tail end of his first command deployment as a CAG. His appointment as XO COMNAVAIRSYS had accelerated his appointment to a two-star position.

Allison had also targeted him as well, that afternoon.

"_Well, hello, sir." Captain Krennick said. Animal would have sworn she practically purred like a cat in heat. "Last I recalled you were a Commander." _

"_Things certainly change." Animal had responded. "Deep selection, I presume." _

"_Well, sir, the blue button certainly helps." Krennick insinuated. _

"_Well, I don't know about that. Captain." Animal stated firmly indicating that the line of superior officer/junior officer shouldn't be crossed. "I'd hope that the Medal wasn't that much of a factor, but rather command and technical abilities and the capacity to do the job correctly..." hoping that Krennick got the message that promotion boards were not supposed to – if they were doing their jobs correctly – consider anything else other than officers' abilities to do their job. But in some respects, Allison was correct. That bias often did creep into the promotion board and __favors__ were oft-times traded back and forth. 'You scratch my back (with the promotion board), I'll scratch your back (with something else)." It wasn't supposed to be done, but it was. _

"Yeah…" Animal said. "That was rather uncomfortable." He stated to the vice-admiral. "By the way, since Captain Rabb is getting married, I gave him permission to take three weeks off."

"Sure, that's fine." Vice-Admiral Hadfield replied. "Guy needs some time off. You hear the scuttlebutt about Krennick? The woman went after Rabb?"

"Yeah, I've heard the history about it." Animal snorted. He kept his thoughts to himself. Allison had wanted to go have a coffee for old time's sake meaning the MOH investigation and the resultant brou-haha with some petty commander who had topped out at O-5. Animal begged off with a meeting and then he had to go back to Falls Church to pick up Lia – his wife, Animal had emphasized.

_**Florida State Prison – Union Correctional Institution**_

_**Raiford, Florida**_

_**2 days later**_

"Special Agent Bill Ford, NSA – I need to talk to Jack Lambert – Prison transfer and interrogation." The sandy-haired man grinned genially to the prison guard.

"I didn't have any prior notice of this." The head security guard said.

"Well, NSA has its rules and one of them is no prior notification. National Security, as you know. Your guy is a domestic terrorist and pretty much, he's in a no-win situation. NSA wants to interrogate him and see what we can get out of him about his friends in the Freedom Brethren. They've been rather active again."

"Couldn't that be done here?" the guard asked.

"Naw. We have better interrogation methods – One thing, hood him and cuff him. We wouldn't want him thinking about escape now. Would we? I'll bring the transfer van to the side entrance."

When a confused and hooded Jack Lambert was brought out and loaded up into the van, Special Agent Bill Ford grinned and said "Thank you…" turned and got into his van and drove off. A long silence ensued while Jack Lambert formulated several hypotheses. "No need to kill people…yet." SA Ford said once he'd closed, locked the door and was well past three blocks away from the prison. He looked up at the rear view mirror. "Just sit yourself comfortably and relax. You're free."

"What are you talking about?" Jack Lambert exclaimed infuriated. "I can't see shit through this hood."

"…just saying that your Freedom Brethren will be expecting you." was the uninformative response. "Of course we might have a small problem with law enforcement about that.

"How the hell do you know about them?" Lambert blustered ineffectually considering he was handcuffed and hooded.

"I have my ways." the man replied as he drove on down the highway.

Silence reigned in the car as Lambert tried to digest what he was told and how the hell he was going to get out of this situation.

_**Meg's Apartment**_

_**Reston, VA**_

"So…we finally have the marriage licence." Meg said as she stretched on the couch. "I am so exhausted…and the wedding is in three days" she said sighing. "Any chance we could just elope?"

"My mother wouldn't forgive me. And your mother and your brothers wouldn't either." Harm replied as she nestled into his arms. "In fact, they'd probably beat me." He grinned at her, his eyes twinkling in merriment.

"Ah…that might be interesting to watch, but no. I guess the show must go on." Meg sighed. "But a few weeks relaxing in the sun might help make me feel better."

"All arranged." Harm replied, relishing feeling Meg's body curled up against his.

"Any chance I can know where we're going? After all, I need to get packed."

"Nope…" Harm said as Meg's face fell in disappointment. "Just know that it's some place warm."

"Awwwwwwww." Meg whined. "Not even a bit of a hint?"

"Nope."

"Party pooper." At that Harm burst out laughing as Meg snorted in mock-disgust.

"Is Mac coming?" Meg asked; not relishing the answer.

"I don't think you'd want to have her possibly ruining your day." Harm said, his merry countenance turning to a worried one. "She could cause a scene."

"Well, Harm, she was your long-time partner. And…I have a vested interest in showing her that this is final." Meg said calmly. "You should send her an invitation. Besides…she needs to understand that _we_ are together and she doesn't have a chance in hell any more."

"You really like sticking the knife in…and twisting. Don't you?" Harm raised an eyebrow.

"Somewhat. Especially when that Marine got on the wrong side of me right from the get-go." Meg replied with a rather vicious looking glare.

"Ouch…" Harm replied. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Harm…darling, my sweet. Trust me." She smirked at him. "The dent in the wall from the thrown frying pan might let you know." She said and from the teasing tone in her voice, Harm knew that she never would go that far.

"I'll ask Gunny to see if he can find me a spare Kevlar PASGT cover."

_**Animal & Lia's Home**_

_**Fairfax, VA **_

"Honey?" Animal's voice sounded from the downstairs den where he kept his uniforms in a small closet. "Have you seen my second pair of dress whites, the ones that I keep for weddings?"

"No… dear. I thought you put them away." Lia said. "By the way, I got an invite as well from Harm and I've been in contact with Meg. I'm going to be going with Meg, Harriet and Jen to pick out bridesmaids dresses." She appeared in the doorway a few seconds later having walked from the kitchen to the downstairs den so that she could speak to her husband better without having a whole gaggle of walls separating them.

"Oh. Jen…you mean Legalman Coates." Animal asked. "She's gotten an invite?"

"Well, Jen's a special person and feels closely attached to both Harm and Meg. After all Harm pulled Jen out of a bad situation and she feels indebted to him."

"Ah…" Animal nodded understanding the connection. "Anyways I picked up a set of fresh RADM boards from the PX for the wedding. Gotta be all neat and squared away so that we all look good on the wedding portraits."

"You're a part of the honor guard?" Lia asked.

"Yep." Animal nodded. "I'm the one hollering out the commands."

"I thought Keeter was going to be." Lia inquired, interested in the reasons for the change of procedure.

"Evidently, he thought that Keeter might fall over after getting into the moonshine so he decided to have me do the commands instead. After all, he informed me that I'm still in Keeter's nightmares. Might keep him straight for an afternoon." Animal informed her, smug tone evident. Turning another set of uniforms, he located the uniform bag hung up. "Ah…found them. Damned things were hiding."

"You can never seem to find things until they're right in front of your nose, dear." Lia remarked as she headed back out the door.

"Huh?" Animal looked at her retreating back in confusion. "I can find things alright…if they're in the same spot as where I left them." He said in mock-outrage. He turned back to the closet, rummaged around for a few moments. Throwing up in hands in frustration he said. "HONEY!? I can't find my sword!"

_**JAG Headquarters**_

_**Falls Church, VA **_

"Hi, Mac, you got a moment?" Harm said.

Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie looked up from her file and calmly perused her once-partner's face. "So…what would you like?" She said. Her face had lost some of the life in it, it seemed to Harm. It seemed a bit paler and more drawn than usual and it had a pinched expression as if she thought the world was conspiring to undermine her and she was fighting a battle for survival. "You do realize I'm rather busy with this case that the admiral dropped into our laps."

"Well, I just wanted to drop this off…" He casually passed her a card in an envelope. "Meg wanted you there at the wedding."

"To do what…might I ask." Mac looked at him with raised eyebrows. "To congratulate the happy bride and groom? To dig the knife in a little bit more, to tell me in no uncertain terms that my rights to you ended."

"No, Mac, you ended it when you told me in Paraguay and I paraphrase _Things are never gonna work out between us.__Because we both want to be on top and that's physically and emotionally... impossible._ What choice did you give me other than to move on? I had no career, I didn't have you to lean on. So what was I supposed to do?" Harm raised his hands palms up in a questioning supplication.

Mac snorted bitterly looking down at her lap. "hmmph. I don't know what I wanted. Maybe for you to wait. Maybe for myself to make up my mind. I don't know." She shook her head. "Maybe, I just waited too long." She paused for a long moment to compose herself and when she looked up her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. "Why?" was the simple question that she asked. "Why did you make me wait and then when I asked you to wait for me…you couldn't?"

There was no simple answer to that question.


End file.
